The politics of song

[charmbrights]

One might imagine that The Choir programmes (wherein Gareth Malone collects people together and forges reasonably competent choirs from unlikely raw material) would be difficult to bias politically.

The BBC leftist agenda has triumphed again! In the present series the first programme was making a choir of P&O staff and their economic difficulties (and threatened downsizing) were not mentioned - so far so good.

The second programme was making a choir of Birmingham City Council employees and surprise, surprise, several of the staff commented on "Tory cuts" and Gareth Malone enthusiastically emphasised the problems these staff have, and went on at some length about some of the choir members' jobs "might be gone in six months time" if cuts continue.

[Teddy Bear]

Yes, I noticed this article yesterday in the Telegraph on a similar theme, which I think you'll enjoy.

The Choir: Sing While You Work, BBC Two, review
Gareth Malone's new series, The Choir: Sing While You Work, was drawn out and manipulative, says Sameer Rahim

Sameer Rahim

Gareth Malone’s series teaching military wives to sing was inspirational TV. He took people living under stressful circumstances and got them expressing themselves in happy unison. Crucially, he also learned as much from the wives and their struggles as he taught them about harmony and pitch. So I had been looking forward to a tear-jerking hour in front of The Choir: Sing While You Work (BBC Two), a series that tries to repeat the military wives trick with workplaces across the country. Unfortunately, it was drawn out and manipulative – a knock-off version of a great original.

Choirmaster Gareth Malone – complete with hipster glasses, ginger beard and red trousers – travelled to Birmingham and auditioned 22 of the best singers from the City Council. There was a pest control officer, a traffic warden and a children’s service officer. Some were clearly presented as Midlands’ “characters” and Malone reinforced the patronising tone with some of his comments: “God bless you for emptying the bins”.

Or at least he did when he was actually there. Although Malone auditioned the choir and chose their song, Malone left the two-month training to an unnamed and unacknowledged choirmaster. He returned to tell them how badly they were doing, rescue the situation and claim the glory. His attitude was summed up when he got the choir to perform for the first time at a residential care home. While the council workers stayed and chatted generously with the old dears, Malone appeared to have left as soon as possible.

The other annoying aspect was the continual harping on about how budget cuts were destroying the council. “Until I came to Birmingham, I didn’t understand the human cost of the cuts,” said Malone. Telegraph readers might well suspect some BBC left-wing bias but I reckon it’s more to do with lazy film-makers needing an uplifting narrative to bolster an episode sorely lacking in action. The only redeeming feature was social worker Siobhán Patton, an admirable woman doing a difficult job, who sang her solo part with real emotion. Malone, on the other hand, did not exhibit half her sincerity.