One of the things that weirded me out when I first moved down to London 14 years ago was how one part of a road could be full of what you’d describe as normal houses and by the end of it the houses would morph into a council estate. I quite liked this aspect of London living, because there seemed to be no divide – both middle class and poorer poeple lived side-by-side. Different cultures seeped into each other, which was so different to the village life I was used to. This aspect of London life was explored to the max in Rich Kid, Poor Kid on Channel 4 tonight to spectacular effect. It was a jaw-dropping, mega interesting programme, very voyeuristic but a must-watch.
Teenager Alice lived at the posh end of a south London street, in a big, six-bedroom house and she made some pretty big pronouncements about what (or who) she thought was cool and what/who was not.
Alice was prone to leafing through weekend newspaper supplements, shrieking with delight at the Rich Lists. She also threw a hissy fit when she was asked to go into a regular supermarket on the high street because she didn’t like the look of it.
Now, Alice had recently been mugged and was obviously fronting up and quite angry about things. She also said a few more outrageous things, but as the show went on I was honestly thinking that she was obviously a product of her environment and was someone who had a lot to learn about life and people.
Natalie, meanwhile, lived on the same street but on a council estate. Her mother didn’t work and neither did she. In fact Natalie had taken control of her family, including the welfare of her beautiful younger brother Gabrielle. Gabrielle slept on the floor in the living room, while Natalie’s room contained pretty much a mattress and some rudimentary items of furniture.
Natalie, even at her age, had become a hardened young woman, exposed to life’s harsh realities. Her mum was depressed and locked up in a rut and, frankly, wasn’t much use to anyone. Natalie was very defensive and angry about her environment, but it was clear she had so much potential. She had a beautiful smile, was really bright. Because of circumstance, she was having to raise not only her little brother but also keep her mum afloat too.
As the film switched between Alice’s sheltered views and Natalie’s struggles, the moment when the two would finally meet edged ever closer. When Natalie was presented with a photograph of Alice, she laughed and said that she guessed she would look like that (too much foundation). Alice, on the other hand, wasn’t looking forward to things quite so much.
And then the moment came. I was totally caught up in the moment and was on the edge-of-my-seat, ready for fireworks. But they didn’t come. Alice said some insensitive things without thinking, Natalie ripped the mick out of her. Stripped away of all their preconceptions, they were just two teenagers laughing and joking about make-up and boys and everything else. It was a very touching moment.
When Alice went back home, her mother was ambivalent (at best) about the whole thing, and when Natalie came to visit she could hardly bring herself to look at her. Natalie, for her part, loved looking around the posh house, and she even sat at the piano and played very nicely. Should have seen Alice’s mum’s face.
Alice, on her return visit to Natalie gaff, walked through the council estate and was clearly shellshocked at the conditions in which Natalie lived in.
To be fair, at the end of the programme, Alice recanted her earlier, extreme statements. And let’s face it, she’s a teenage girl, learning about life and people as she’s going along. She was big enough and bright enough to accept she was wrong. I don’t think she deserves any abuse – she’s just a normal, posh teenage girl. By the end of the programme I actually quite admired her and the way she was willing to be proved wrong. I didn’t like her much, but admired her nonetheless.
While Natalie had seen it all and done it all, this programme was all about Alice’s journey, and by the end of it all she was mortified at some of the comments she had made earlier.
It was terrific, culture-clash television, and was very successful exposing what I believe has happened to us as a society. Natalie (who was just brilliant pretty much throughout) was bang-on when she said that wherever we live or whatever our economic circumstance, we all live in bubbles. We all live in fear of each other. When we’re scared we get defensive. When we get defensive we don’t trust each other. When we don’t trust each other we don’t give someone a chance.
This programme did a very good job in highlighting those divisions.
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