Without a doubt the worst decade for British television was the Noughties. We got 'Big Brother', 'Little Britain', 'Celebrity Love Island', 'I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here', 'Celebrity Wrestling', 'Pop Idol', 'Fame Academy', I.T.V.'s ill-fated 'Crossroads' revival, 'Strictly Come Dancing', and 'Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway'. Dreadful shows every one of them. In his novel '1984', George Orwell envisioned a future in which a totalitarian regime brainwashed citizens with trashy novels designed to destroy intelligent thought. He was almost right: for trashy novels read trashy T.V., and there was no better an example of this than 'Footballers' Wives', a train wreck of a series that made 'Neighbours' look like Shakespeare. It centred round a group of...well, footballers' wives who drank, took drugs and slept with every man who crossed their paths. It was surprising that the feminists failed to invade the studio where it was made to pelt the cast with eggs and flour bombs. Perhaps having women in key positions of power on British T.V. nowadays has blinded them to this? 'Footballers' Wives' flopped originally, and it was only when the tabloids came galloping to its rescue with a blitz of coverage did it secure a second season. So now you know who to blame for this cynically-motivated crap. There was even an American version, mercifully brief. On May 3rd 2006, common sense prevailed finally, and it was axed, hopefully never to return.
Review of Footballers' Wives
