TV Critics: Millionaire Boy Racers; Trouble Abroad

“Matt Rudge’s documentary demonstrated that the greatest disparities in wealth are no longer between Disraeli and Miliband’s two Britains but between the Gulf states and the rest of the world. It also demonstrated that if you are obscenely wealthy it is best not to flaunt the fact by screeching round London in low-slung Lamborghinis, Bugattis and Maseratis. The locals really don’t like it.”
Andrew Billen, The Times

“The conflict between boy racers and locals was presented as a clash of cultures, but it was really just a clash between the rich and the richer; its consequences didn’t concern the rest of us at all. We could just watch and point and, where appropriate, snigger… Personally, I thought the symbiosis perfect – the millionaire boy racers were noisy, ridiculous and antisocial, but they seemed to be pissing off all the right people.”
Tim Dowling, The Guardian

“Panda, founder of a local action group, talked emotionally about the beleaguered natives who had passed their flats from generation to generation, as if she was defending a crofting community from holiday rentals. Justin, whose upper lip was a little stiffer, thought it was “reverse colonisation… we’re subjects, slaves to their money”. And again, with a little effort, you could see their point. Bloody hell! That’s not how colonisation is supposed to work.”
Tom Sutcliffe, The Independent

“The first of a two-part ITV documentary that seems designed to reassure viewers that they’re better off as wage slaves in an English winter. Those featured included Sally, whose husband squandered the retirement fund on online poker, leaving her to eke out a living with the help of a French food bank… The film concluded, a little startlingly, with Sally announcing that she didn’t regret her move to France, as if the makers had realised that a completely undiluted slug of schadenfreude might leave a little bitterness on the lips.”
Tom Sutcliffe, The Independent

“The issue really is money and birthdays. Everyone in this programme was over a certain age, because that’s the age you tend to be when you can afford to buy a slice of paradise. That’s also the age when starting again from nothing in a foreign land is difficult or completely impossible. Chase the dream by all means, that seemed to be the message, but do it before you turn 30.”
Matt Baylis, Daily Express