Can I be a little controversial? There is a TV show called The Marvellous Miniature Workshop. It should be right up my street - and I really don't like it.
The basic premise is that a skilled modelmaker produces a miniature scene, or building, that brings to life a memory for a member of the public. We watch the skilled (and they are very skilled) modelmaker create something wonderful.
If this was how it worked, I'd be all over the show. After all, there is the excellent Repair Shop, and I'm also keen on Car SOS and Wheeler Dealers, especially the Ed China episodes. But it doesn't.
The producers are obviously keen to invent another Repair Shop, but because they work in tellyland, completely missed the point that makes that show work. Put simply, they fall for the fallacy that a TV show needs a STAR. In The Repair Shop, pretty much everyone involved was unknown at the start. A few series in, all the people working on it (we'll not mention Jay Blades) is a star - because of the wonderful skills they have.
For MMW, there was a budget, so we get SARA COX. Now, I think she is brilliant on the radio, but here, I think shes woefully miscast. The BBC has favourites of the month, and they are shoe-horned into everything. Presumably, SARA COX got the gig because Romesh Ranganathan wasn't available.
Worse, because we have a STAR, she has to be the main focus of the programme. So, we have SARA COX introducing things, talking to the ordinary members of the public over a contrived cup of tea, where they meet the modelmaker. Then, to tell the story, the ordinary members of the public are shown talking to the camera with SARA COX providing voiceover. Cut to the modelmaker with more, slightly patronising SARA COX voiceover. Everything is "made to perfection". Next, SARA COX goes and does some "research" for all of two minutes. Back to a bit of construction, then SARA COX unveils the finished model.
In The Repair Shop, and other shows I mentioned, we follow, and get some understanding of the work being done. Most of the time, it is fascinating. Here, we have a STAR, so the modelmaking is almost an afterthought. The people building models seem perfectly personable, so why not give them more screen time so they can tell us what they are doing?
One reason might be that a lot of processes take a very long time. If it takes five hours to make a floor, then the camera team can't be kept hanging around while someone cuts out bits of wood. In the same episode, the maker produced half-a-dozen tubular steel hospital beds from plastic strip, which will have taken hours, but was covered in a single voiceover line from SARA COX.
Worse, the focus is on the "human interest" story. So, there is a lot of reminiscing, and not a little crying. To me, it's very mawkish, something The Repair Shop keeps to a minimum. But then they know we've come to see skilled people at work. The backstory is kept short.
But these producers don't like skilled people doing interesting work. They have a STAR, who has cost a loads of money, and needs to be used a lot. They also believe that blubbering ordinary members of the public are TV gold.
What the show needs is a spinoff - no SARA COX, no ordinary members of the public, just skilled modelmakers talking us through the work they are doing. OK, it's a harder edit, and you'd probably need them to film themselves, but that's not impossible. It's would be a better representation of the effort that goes into what are real masterpieces.
Maybe I'm just grumpy. Very probably, but I look at the modelmaking, and want to know more. I don't care about the "research" which isn't, and I never want to see people so upset by the current state of the house they loved, and the subject of the model, that they are crying on camera.
Not for me.
14 comments:
Couldn't agree more.
It might be my imagination but the Repair Shop human interest rubbish has expanded relative to the detail work.
I wonder if it is the programme that is wrong or if, as modellers, we just see the world differently to most people.
Pretty much how I felt. You could pop out of the room, make dinner, come back and not feel you've missed anything, even though it was nowa different episode.
Totally agree. A great idea totally ruined by the producers. I managed to watch one episode but no more. Such a shame.
Have you tried 'James May's Shed Load of Ideas' on Quest? It too features lots of workshop activities, some of which are daft, some clever, and it also has a repair shop-ish bit where he and his chums mend something brought in by a neighbour.
Available for free here.
https://www.discoveryplus.com/gb/en/shows/james-mays-shed-load-of-ideas/s1/3f7f2ee3-1478-4dd4-927a-a04be06623b0/e2-supermarket-trolley-bike/d7f423cc-2834-46dc-80a3-0e1d50f7986e
Agreed - far too much sugar-coated schmaltzy chocolate box nostalgia. Sara Cox, however, is preferable to a myopic detailed-obsessive modeller as a presenter..... (thinking railway modeller getting excited about track ballasting....)
Tried it. It's OK, and I really like James May but it's a bit "blokes messing around" for me. Not appointment TV, but better than most when flicking through channels.
True, but presenting is a skill. You don't need to be obsessed, just genuinely interested in the making side.
I loved the program but like others wished we saw more of the techniques used to build the structure rather than lots of Sarah cox!!!
I have to admit I've not watched it yet, although I intend to as I've actually met (albeit briefly) one of the modellers; Lee from LNR Models. If you want to see more of his modelling then he has a YouTube channel which might be more up your street.
Interestingly one of the best bits of random TV I watched during lockdown was a three part BBC4 series called Handmade (annoyingly not currently on iPlayer). This had no music and no voiceover, just half an hour of watching a master practice their craft, you'd have loved it I'm sure.
I agree Phil. I like Sara Cox but, as in the Pottery Throw Down, she was miscast. There was an offshoot of the Salvage Shop where we witnessed blacksmithing and skilled glass blowing to name a few crafts. I’m less enamoured with repair shop in recent years as there is too much emoting and elements of box ticking in the owners and projects at the expense of seeing more of the skills.
Duncan
There is a tendency to insert random celebrities into programmes in the assumption that their fame is enough to draw in viewers. Then it turns out that people STAY for the skills on show, but that only works if the celeb doesn't get in the way. Trouble is, producers don't seem to understand, or care about, the audience they are aiming at. I suppose we should be relieved that the title isn't "Sara Cox's The Marvellous Miniature Workshop" !
Funny how you seem to have summed up my view of Repair Shop - too much time/focus on the emotional back-story before a brief segment showing the item being intially taken apart then cutting to the next person's treasured item and a new back-story introduction...
A little later we briefly return back mid-process without really showing us what is going on, but the voice over can try to hype the tension because if the expert gets this stage wrong it will ruin this irreplacable heir loom... ...before hopping to mid-stage on another object.
Finally we get to see the expert put the finishing touches on final assembly, all work done without really showing any of it happening, ready for the grand reveal where the member of the public will hopefully burst into tears they're so pleased...
In my experience, The Repair Shop varies - some jobs are well illustrated, others less so. I don't expect a documentary on the more complicated work, but those where we see more are better IMHO.
In Jay Blades book, he recounts how the show started. The TV people were in his workshop when he handed back something repaired - and it was the reaction of the recipient that sold the show to the producers.
Fully agree with your comments. Maybe they need someone like you to steer it!
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