Piers Morgan’s Life Stories
ITV 1
The FA Cup
ITV 1
Politicians need to choose their media vehicles with care. The likes of Jeremy Paxman, David Dimbleby, John Humphrys and Terry Wogan all take a different approach when it comes to interviewing party leaders; some softer, others tougher.
Back in the 1983 general election campaign, I worked on the Granada 500, a fascinating election show that ended with our cross-voting audience of 500 from Bolton, one of the country’s key marginals, journeying down to London to grill the three party leaders. Any one of the party leaders could have vetoed the programme and, although I quietly advised Michael Foot’s office not to co-operate, they all decided to go ahead. I warned that it was just Margaret Thatcher’s kind of forum. Four years, previously she had seen off James Callaghan. Winning the debate in the House of Commons was one thing, winning it front of a questioning television audience was a different matter. It just wasn’t Foot’s kind of programme. Perhaps needless to say, Thatcher came out on top with 15 million watching.
Gordon Brown made a more reasoned choice when he put himself up in front of former Daily Mirror editor turned television galactico, Piers Morgan. It’s the kind of show that works for Brown. An easy ride was certain and, given that everyone loathes Morgan, Brown was always going to look better. And so he did, for once coming over as personable and with a sense of humour. Piers Morgan’s Life Stories is not about politics, but about personalities and this programme revealed a man who feels just as strongly about life with Sarah and the kids as he does about the Labour Party. Now there’s a surprise.
It was before the “bullying” storm broke and this was Desert Island Discs without the discs. Admittedly, the “softer” approach can sometimes be just as effective and more revealing than the aggression and rudeness of a Paxman. And what about the Granita restaurant deal with Tony Blair? asked Morgan. It’s a myth replied, the Prime Minister, adding interestingly that the deal had already been done. But that was about it. Watching the show it’s hard to believe that Morgan was ever a journalist.
If Brown is to win the general election he will need to face and deal with a lot tougher questioning than this. Morgan is one thing but you can’t avoid the Paxmans, Humphrys and Dimblebys of this world forever. Knowing Brown likes his family may not be enough for the electorate.
Don’t yabber is an instruction that should be tattooed on the forearms of all television football commentators – and especially those of ITV who play host to the FA Cup since winning the rights to show it from the BBC a couple of years ago.
Unfortunately, for the fifth round, instead of a refreshing or innovative approach we get more of the same and a gaggle of commentators who came out with a constant stream of comments and statistics. It was wittering at its worst. We don’t need to be told every statistic in the book, even down to: “The last time Bolton Wanderers played an FA Cup game on St Valentine’s Day was 1953.” Just how relevant is that? More to the point, how many hours of research did it take to come up with such a facile statistic?
ITV specialises in too many statistics, too many irrelevant comments and far too much stating the obvious. “Huddlestone’s gone down injured.” Oh really? Is that why he’s lying on the floor? Close shot of Huddlestone. “He’s writhing in agony.’ Yes, we can all see that. And so it went on until the commentator finally finished with this gem: “They’ve met on
St Valentine’s Day and enjoyed each other’s company so much that they’re going to have a second date.” Arghhhh! Bring back Kenneth Wolstenholme.
Stephen Kelly
