The prince couldn’t wait for the king to die

Continuing my trip down The Guardian's Top 50 TV Shows of 2021.  

#37 : Blair And Brown - The New Labour Revolution

A five-part retelling of the last time Labour got anywhere even close to power, Blair and Brown was the document New Labour deserved. And, just maybe, that British voters deserved as well.


Part of me was quite looking forward to this, but part of me was slightly put off by a review I read - from The Guardian.  Which is a bit odd, since they're also telling me it's the 37th best program of the year - was there really nothing better?

Hmmm.  Well, the first episode was fun in a "look at the terrible haircuts they had when they were students" kinda way, but it didn't really hold my attention any more than that.  It's possible that future episodes might offer up surprising and new insights into one of the most well-documented political relationships of recent times but a) I'll never know and b) I suspect I'd have heard about them anyway.

The Guardian review makes the point that all the talking heads were all insiders - this worked well when the subject was snooker, but when it's something which would obviously benefit from a more objective and critical viewpoint, it's somewhat self-defeating.  From what I saw, it didn't seem terrible and I'm sure it's all professionally put-together, but I really struggle to understand how this got its place on the list - particularly given that the people who put the list together didn't seem to like it.  Odd.

#36 - Pot the red, then screw back...
#38 - Surprisingly entertaining and educational

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