Gogglebox

Though Tatler is not the place one would usually expect to find television recommendations, I was pushed to watch this television titan whilst perusing the latest edition that I stumbled upon Steph and Dom, AKA the posh couple from Gogglebox.

After another recommendation by my friend from Devon I gave the show a try, and was rather delighted. My parents were horrified when I explained the concept, after all the idea of watching other people watch TV sounds horrifically meta and unbelievably dull.

However conceptually this show is genius, in Britain we manage to squeeze in, on average, around four hours of television every day, and as such many television events have a tendency to unite the nation.

From a purely voyeuristic point of view, Gogglebox offers a fantastic way to see how the other half lives, especially politically, it is fascinating to see how people of various socio-economic backgrounds react to the leadership debates, and it provided an interesting window into how people other than me think.

Gogglebox is undoubtedly the realist of reality shows, it lacks the soap opera flashiness of Keeping up with the Kardashians or Made in Chelsea, and its storyline, rather than needing to be created in the editing suite, is instead guided by the weeks television.

Its other strength is that it airs at the end of the week, and is filmed essentially in real time, so when it airs, many of the events shown have just happened, this is perhaps one of the most current reality television shows, it is particularly useful for me, because as I work in news, I don't have the luxury of burying my head in the sand. Watching Gogglebox allows me to know whats happening on TV, without having to sit through the entire Corrie omnibus.

Whilst conceptually Gogglebox should be a failure, it's possibly one of the most entertaining shows on television today, and is a fascinating look at British couch potato culture.