Over the past week I have caught up with three Channel 4 documentaries which left me wondering about the best way to present the form as they illustrated the different ways documentaries are now presented.









1) The "Nugget" Approach
I will happily watch any documentary about the Mitford sisters so I started watching a repeat of HITLER'S BRITISH GIRL last week with interest. After a while it dawned on me that it had been green lit because of a single nugget of information that the programme doggedly refused to drop. Martin Bright, political editor of the New Statesman attempted to get to the truth of a rumour that Unity Mitford had Hitler's baby in an Oxfordshire rest home. Despite the fact that all the books written by and about the sisters has never raised this conjecture before, the programme makers persevered with the quest to get to the bottom of this non-existent story. Eventually Bright traced a woman whose sister worked at the home and she stated categorically that Mitford was only there because she was recovering from her suicide attempt at the declaration of war. So how did the programme end? "We will probably never know if Unity Mitford gave birth to Hitler's child...." YES WE DO! IT DIDN'T HAPPEN!! The stupid thing was the programme was so blinkered in it's determination to concentrate on this bogus story that there were two glaring omissions in the story:
1) how, while striving to show how close Unity Mitford was to Hitler, could there be no mention that Diana Mitford had married Oswald Mosley in Goebbels' living room where Hitler was a guest?
2) while attempting to suggest a conspiracy theory for Unity not being interrogated when she arrived home in January 1940 why didn't they bring up the fact that Diana was arrested and interned in Holloway 6 months afterwards until 1943?












2) The "Looky-likey" Approach
Next up was SNOWDEN & MARGARET: INSIDE A ROYAL MARRIAGE which lifted the lid on the first of the Windsor marriages to go upsy-dutch. Again it wasn't long before I realized what strand of docu I was watching - this was the kind that illustrated every anecdote from the interviewees with a soft-focus filmed insert with unnamed actors who never have any lines but who invariably dance, walk up and down stairs, walk into empty rooms, put lipstick on while staring into mirrors - usually with a tear running down their face etc. The annoying thing about this approach is:
1) why are they there at all? I can listen to what someone is saying without it being acted out for me
2) if they must be there - why not cast people who actually LOOK like the subjects - it's not like we don't know what these people looked like! For all the acting ability these unknown performers need they might as well trawl the lookalike ads in the back of The Stage - at least we would be spared the guessing game of wondering who it is that has just walked into the room until the narrator informs us that it's not Valerie Singleton but Princess Margaret.













3) The "Celebrity" Approach
The third was actually by far the best: Rupert Everett exploring the life of Sir Richard Burton in THE VICTORIAN SEX EXPLORER. The 'celebrity on celebrity' approach can sometimes be a bit ropey as it is all dependent on the presenter and if in the process of the documentary they actually reveal themselves too. Luckily Rupert Everett was an excellent choice, camera-savvy and an excellent guide to Burton's life, from translating The Kama Sutra to his growing interest in the East and his distancing from the Victorian society he was allegedly serving. Everett was on board of course to probe Burton's possible and growing homosexual leanings which he did with humour and an obvious interest. His meetings with the people Burton would have met and wrote about were also handled with a genuine interest and empathy, from the sensual Nautch dancers to the hijra eunuchs who in Burton's day held privileged court positions but who are now reduced to prostitution. He met Indian prostitutes who have to give up their children for adoption and he led some Indian nuns in a ragged rendition of "How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria". It was a great programme, beautifully shot and of course, winningly presented.