Can't Pay? We'll Take It Away! (2014–2018) User Reviews

Reasonably entertaining look at a tough job; a bit repetitive.

[ladybug-48595 · 7/10 · 29 September 2017]

Caught the first 2 seasons of this on Netflix. Most of the other reviewers have it plain WRONG as they're critiquing the job, not the show, to which I'd respond "Don't hate the player, hate the game!".

The show follows various different 'high court enforcement officers' in carrying out their daily jobs. Sadly, their job involves repossessing houses, apartments, cars and property from down-on-their- luck members of society, usually with either Sad, Pathetic, Hilarious, or sometimes Violent consequences.

The people they meet come from across the wealth spectrum in the UK, poor, middle class, and also wealthy. What they have in common is they didn't pay their bills; full Stop. If they'd paid, they would never have been in the situation, hence the show's title. Most times their predicament is their own fault (not paying rent for 8 months, house sitting in a mansion and then refusing to leave), but occasionally there's a tale that tugs at the heartstrings.

What people lose sight of is that there's always a 2nd party being wronged...it's not just the tenant being kicked out that's losing something. Several episodes discussed the landlords, who've often bought the property as a long term investment, like the seniors on a pension who can barely make ends meet as their tenant hasn't paid rent in 6 months and who leaves the apartment in a trashed condition to boot! Is it fair to have a system that doesn't have a recourse for them? No. Hence why this job (and the show) exist.

Overall it's a poignant, realistic look at a job that appears both tough and heartless, but plays an INTEGRAL part in keeping the gears of modern society in motion. 7/10.

ps. Would rate higher except the editing is crap...typical repetitive techniques of 'what's coming later' and 'what's already happened' really slow many episodes down.

Schadenfreude at its finest?

[spacemafia · 7/10 · 7 February 2022]

I don't know what it is about it, but there's just something about this show (which is obviously most likely schadenfreude) that keeps me addicted to see more of it. I know, not something many people agree with, but regardless I just personally have some sort of interest in what can happen when you're in serious debt and need to pay it off.

The one thing I definitely like about this show is that it shows people in various circumstances and seeing how they would be able to pay off their debt. Most of the time they either manage to or put it on a weekly/monthly plan. I myself (thankfully) have never been put in such a situation, although I can be glad that this show warned me of what could happen with bad financial decisions which can lead to so much trouble.

Now obviously there's a very huge breach of privacy for those who actually do make an appearance on this show. That's something I do have a bit of a problem with. If you were to be in a sort of situation this show portrays, obviously you'd not want to publicise it, would you?

Regardless, when it comes to watching (and in some cases binging) this show, it's rather easy to do so and you do kind of get used to the tactics the bailiffs use in order to get situations resolved. Good learning experience.

Great show; strange but great

[cujokay · 8/10 · 22 October 2017]

I love this show! I live in the U.S. and am SHOCKED that the "high court" can just show up at your door and put you out IMMEDIATELY! There is nothing similar in the states. Although we do have evictions the courts DO give you a final move-out date. There are no surprises at your door.

Also being able to immediately take your possessions to absolve the debt is CRAZY to me!

I love the show and have visited the U.K. on one occasion and really enjoyed myself (my husband and I took a 2-week holiday). I had no idea stuff like this was going on. It's mind boggling.

Great show

[don-43839 · 12 June 2017]

I found this a very good show,unlike one of the other reviewers i am looking at it in a more realistic light. Many people end up in debt, the ideal solution is to obviously come to some sort of arrangement but Most of the people in this show come up with such stupid excuses and say so many stupid lies thinking that they will get away with it,i honestly find the people are dealt with in a very reasonable manner considering they have already done the wrong thing. It amazes me to see some of the stupid reactions that the people show when confronted with the debt collectors,treating them as idiots,of course they are not,and they are going to deal with you in a harder way if you treat them like idiots. I would find it very hard to deal with a job like theirs,my hats off to them. And once again it is a great show.

This show would NEVER happen in the United States

[user-415-133374 · 8/10 · 12 April 2020]

As an American, this is an incredible show to watch since the system of High Court Enforcement Agents is something which would *never* function in the United States. Attempting to enter someone's home forcibly and removing property would result in these men being gunned down, especially in places like Texas or other heavy pro-gun conservation states.

While I fully support the 2nd amendment, it does say something that in the UK, even *picking up a knife* is enough to levy serious criminal charges, much less guns, which are nearly impossible to obtain in that country, from what I understand.

Also, the show presents a side of British society hardly ever seen, that of immigrants especially from places like Southeast Asia, Bangladesh, and Indonesia. A lot of the enforcement actions are often against people from these regions, as well as Africa, and while we all know about British Indians (who can forget the British Raj) it's rare to see a British program display the lives and times of these other, lesser known, immigrant groups. What impresses me the most is how the agents deal with such people *exactly the same* as with upper class British who are wealth and better off.

So, a fascinating show, and highly recommended, especially if one is not familiar with the debt collection process in the United Kingdom and how it is enforced. This show will absolutely provide an education.

What are they saying about debt in the UK

[dave-12603 · 6/10 · 18 August 2018]

Does this show reflect (of the debtors shown), the correct percentage of debtors who are white with British heritage, and non white? Do you ever hear anybody from DCBL say that the amount payable will rise by X amount if they have to pick up a TV and take it outside? No, in all the episodes I've watched they do not. £900 added in one instance just because they 'began' removing items, I guess they are told NOT to warn debtors so to make more money and penalise the debtors. The show would be better if they were not so falsely polite.

Glad I live in the US!

[canweroc · 10/10 · 15 January 2019]

It's a show that shows you that you have to be responsible for all of your actions in life. From not paying rent and how your old debt can find you.

Repetitive show which runs out of steam, but initially is an entertaining binge.

[SHLED95 · 7/10 · 13 January 2023]

Each episode is split between four cases, usually. The last is typically the quickest and easiest for the agents. They are instructed by the high court to collect debt, seize assets, or evict tenants. Every case begins with a summary of how much is owed and why, while the agents are driving to the location written on the high court writ. The beginning of each case is usually the best bit, as people aren't aware of the bailiffs' powers and think they're trespassing. The initial attitude of the debtor is also how they'll usually act for the remainder of the case, so if they're angry at the start then they'll most likely be angry for the entire case.

The best episodes are those with debtors/evictees that are extremely angry and aggressive. In the earlier seasons, the cases were more varied than later, as they didn't just collect debt, they also evicted people and moved travellers. In season 5 for example, the vast majority of cases are a simple debt collection which adds to the repetition factor. I'm guessing this is down to the show being criticised as classist and morally bankrupt for showing people at their low points; however, the show does have people from all walks of life and the agents are polite, respectful, and neutral. I'll admit that there are more working-class people on this show, but I don't think it takes a genius to figure out that someone with money, privilege, and an increased likelihood of financial sense will be more likely to pay a debt than those who lack it.

This show is repetitive. It was made for a traditional TV channel which means it's chock-full of summaries of what's to come and what already occurred before and after every ad break. The length of these recounts are asinine. I believe some editing to fit every case within a single segment would've been preferable, to be honest. To add to the fatigue, the show highlights and narrates a relevant factoid as an interim between each case. I'm pretty sure a lot of them are repeated, but I wouldn't know as I skip over them every time. God, I don't miss cable TV at all.

Due to the professionalism required and the impersonal structure of the show, all the agents are very similar to each other. However, some have more coloured personalities than others, especially in the initial seasons. Paul Bohill and Steven Pinner are seen as the mascots of the show, due to their empathetic dialogues in the earlier seasons. Thankfully, this is one aspect they reduce in later seasons of which I'm a fan of. It's not that I disagree with them, I just disagree with the repetitive nature of it. Again, my biggest gripe with this show is its repetitiveness. Any reduction in that department is preferable, even if it removes some personality from the agents. You'll notice small differences in the agents' personalities, like how Stuart McCracken is stern and prefers to get crackin' on the job rather than playing the empathy game; or how Gary Ball has as much personality as a thumb. Thankfully his partner is one of my favourites, so his segments aren't so bad.

My advice is to watch season one and if you're really enjoying it then keep going, but eventually around season four-to-five you'll start to get bored and notice how safe they're playing it. It's not a bad show, but it went on too long and diminished in quality.

Poorly done

[night-18947 · 3/10 · 16 October 2020]

Why after the adverts do you have to give a 3 minute trailer of what happened just a moment ago. We just saw it. Ruins the program

'Cynical, exploitative voyeurism of human misery

[wellthatswhatithinkanyway · 2/10 · 21 September 2017]

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning

As the cost of living is rising and real terms wage increases are proving non-existent, more people around the country are sliding into debt than ever before, and many debts are being left to escalate to the point where it's referred to the High Court. One such HC enforcement group goes by the name of dcbl, which this programme follows the exploits of, as they travel the country, enforcing writs and encountering hostility from many of the debtors.

In this sad, unfortunate world, quality, well written, worthwhile television of the sort that was the norm as recently as two decades ago, has all but evaporated, and the craze for this generation's lazy, easily pleased crowd is the none stop splurge of 'reality TV.' Channel 5 (that, forebodingly, came around two decades ago!) is the main purveyor of this endless stream of cheap, easily made, tackily slapped together pile of programmes that clutter the schedules, and of which Can't Pay? We'll Take It Away (the titles are always similarly lazy and unimaginative!) is one of the more popular examples. But what is even more unsavoury about the existence of these programmes, is the sleazy, voyeuristic thrill we are encouraged to derive from those in desperate, life shattering situations, losing everything and falling into despair, but who are happy to have their personal business broadcast to the public without their faces being blurred, which the generation before would have regarded as nobody else's business, which further shows how far we've fallen as a culture!

While some of the debtors don't have a problem with facing the scorn of society, none of the featured baliffs do, and so we learn of them, their names, and are left to examine the moral ambiguity of them as people, of which some fall far short! A man called Paul Bohill is the most charismatic and surprising of the bunch, still tackling problem debtors and putting himself in potentially volatile situations despite being in his seventies now, but with his age he undoubtedly applies a more calm, reasoned approach to things, along with his frequent partner, the similarly aged Steve Pinner. They are undoubtedly the most shining of the group, but there's also the likes of Brian O' Shaughnessy, who seems to get tangled up with serial killers off screen but, most shockingly of all, the now cancer ridden Delroy Anglin, a former Met police commander who was involved in a scandal involving stolen drugs!

Regardless of whether many of the debtors command sympathy or not, and have only themselves to blame, this is nonetheless still cruel, exploitative television, that invites us to voyeur at people when they're at their lowest and caked in misery, and a shattering indictment of what we as a society now demand as our entertainment. *

Disgusting poverty porn.

[mark-01455 · 1/10 · 8 March 2018]

To start with, the fact England and Wales even has such a service as a High Court where there is no due process or notification of defendants is simply disgusting.

I can see enforcing commercial judgements and rent collection, but the way these people deal with enforcing evictions of citizens gives you a very clear picture of how England and Wales see this rights of its citizens versus the sovereignty of property.

This goes doubly so when these "Officers" are really hired goons working on commission.

And while I can certainly understand how frustrated landlords can get from rent being in arrears and that it must be paid, the lack of due process - whether or not people received notice from a lower court, is simply inexcusable.

Let me be clear, a property owner should never have to wait eight months to be paid, and when there's a brothel on the premises or something along these lines, the perpetrators should be kicked out.

But by the same token, when arbitration has fallen through and promises broken, people deserve a definitive date of ejection, not some random goon coming with no warning and a write telling the tenant they have an hour to leave.

It's seriously disgusting, and the people responsible for writing the laws in England and Wales should be ashamed in general for the way they treat their poor.

As to the people - I have a lot of friends there and I am unsure many of them are even aware of these draconian rules. People in England and Wales are basically good, but the High Court is a horrific tool for debt collection that should be abolished.

I just watched an episode while writing this this about a family that was booted out of their house who has a two-year old under life support... no quarter given. Disgusting. How could these people, the landlord or most of all Channel 5 deal with themselves after this is beyond me.

There should be a provision in these laws that allows for situations that are obvious emergencies.

By the way, I mention only England and Wales because Scotland doesn't allow these goons and has actual Sheriffs employed by the state that aren't incentivized by the profit motive to boot people out of their homes. It's a bit more civil and I can understand why they want independence if this is any indication.

And when it comes to the UK, I'm not just talking about this crap, I'm talking about things like the fact there's a payday loan shop on every corner in every poor neighborhood. It's disgusting.

Beyond all this, as someone who works in the media, I'm amazed that the producers can make a profit from selling adverts from this poverty porn, and I'm even more shocked the producers don't provide some of the more deserving people with compensation for showing their lives bare for the sake of ad sales.

Again, I am very pro-landlord generally, and in commercial situations, well, judgements must be enforced, but the way they treat their poor in the UK is just horrific.

They should abolish the High Courts' ability to evict people without notice. Full stop. And this poverty porn - disgusting. It should be canceled.

Absolute Scum

[Krazykopper · 1/10 · 26 March 2017]

These guys are the stuff that you want to scrape off your shoe.

I just watched an episode of this program were a family were evicted from there home. Among those evicted was "Riley", a 2 year old child who needed round the clock life support just to 'stay alive'! this is the worst television I have ever I have never seen anything as terrible as this. for this dickhead to say 'dont panic, there's nothing to worry about, is unbelievable.

I live in Irelans, where this cant happen! Why? Because these guys would get torn to shreds. When people stand up against this bullying then it doesn't happen. YOU ARE SCUM.

Heartless Scums of the Earth

[kevinpleasant · 2/10 · 16 September 2017]

I have never in my life seen a meaner or more heartless group of individuals as these so-called high court enforcers. The older gentleman are sometimes willing to work with the people but the younger guys are just plain heartless bastard's. If you can watch this without wanting to smack one of these pompous losers in the head then you're way better than I am. Not only do they not lift a finger to make things easier they seem to take delight in making things as difficult as possible. I just hope these guys are down and out and need someone to help them one day and they're treated the exact same way that they treat the people in this show.

Very bias and exploiting the poor and hurting families with children and other optical ignorance

[ashlee-65597 · 1/10 · 5 September 2018]

It's all good you getting the bad guys but there's no solution to the people who really suffers afterwards.people are exploited. And I have noticed not everyone has their faces covered.i find this is also a bias programme.see what I'm doing but don't do what I'm doing. I find it very political. I'm sure I have seen some faces covered and some are not.why is that.

Capitalism is EVIL on so many levels

[vermontcedar · 3/10 · 3 July 2017]

Britain and the US have allowed scavengers of capitalism to exploit, make broke and then come in for the kill. These guy are the carrion bird who just drink the blood to collect the flesh and deliver the goods.

It was hard to believe these poor people who were said to owe debts not only lost their homes; they were forced to pay rent until the evicted home was sold! What?

Children at school coming home to fin their homes with doors locked. These carrion birds are feeders and the enablers are the courts. No wonder we live in such a mean world filled with crime and terrorism.

Meanwhile the Queen selects from one of her 1000 handbags each costing 6000 pounds! How can the Brits allow such incredible abuse. If you are indeed in business, by being in that business you accept the responsibility of occasional loss. Not these whiners.

How does this work???

[stribble-72274 · 1/10 · 10 January 2016]

Please someone explain to me how this works? I love the show up until season 2 episode 6. Being a follower since the beginning I always enjoyed waiting to see what scenarios we'd be thrown and what circumstances the guys had to deal with that week. Up until today. Having seen so many families and individuals being evicted losing belongings property's homes it was awful but the guys were in there to do there job and as heart wrenching as it was to see this happen you always understood. Watching today never before have I seen such lean treatment for a debt that usually would be handled in the taking of belongings and sorted ASAP. However a street in Stoke on Trent gathered all their friends and family which resulted in the offer of a payment plan being set up?! I'm sorry but I thought that show was a last resort for the default of all other payment failures plans included so why in shows before have you waited (hours may I add) to remove families but this was an exception and I will make the point of saying that it's probably another one of those times that us 'white' people are more concerned with the prospect of appearing racist that when situations arise with 'differently ethic and coloured' individuals there then given preferential treatment?! Just goes to show how we have all ended up really. Every case should be handled the same and if the ability to give payment plans to those then please offer it to women who support children on there own or to an individual who is clearly unwell and unable to comprehend! NOT to individuals that over exert there 'community power'. Thought this was one of those shows where we all get treated EQUALLY ?! How can this be justified?! Chances are won't be watching again.

Ugly Exposure.

[seanusa-45268 · 2/10 · 19 December 2022]

As entertaining as the high stakes and real human interaction is, "Can't pay?" just seems to portray the ugly side of capitalism. Humans are complicated, the show does a good job of capturing this from a live-action stand point, but watching peoples lives in their darkest moments with camera's all over them becomes more and more nauseating as the show goes on.

The premise alone is toxic. You find yourself rooting for the High Court Enforcement as show does well at conveying the agents point of view, but again having ones face plastered everywhere for entertainment (numerous law suits in the UK as a result!) let alone capitalizing on others suffering makes for a naturally controversial show. Some people like this, but the nature of the premise defeats any merit a show like this can have.

Worth watching if you either enjoy watching the suffering of others publicly or want some reflection into the ugliest facets of society.