TV review

Published Monday 15 September 2008 at 18:15 by Harry Venning

The Dark Side of Fame with Piers Morgan purports to explore the downside of celebrity through in-depth interviews with the stars, starting with former Playboy centrefold, Baywatch babe and tabloid favourite Pamela Anderson.

It is a terrible show, made worse by the fact there so much of it, clocking in at a wholly excessive 45 minutes.

There can few greater wastes of time than listening to an incorrigible self-publicist such as Anderson complain about all the attention she receives, especially when the person she is moaning to is a fellow egomaniac like Piers Morgan, a man so desperate to achieve fame that he has his name crowbarred into the title of the programme.

And what a stupid and meaningless title it is. For anyone intent on a career in showbusiness, there is no dark side to fame, except possibly the terror of it going away once you’ve achieved it. Hence Anderson’s increasingly desperate attempts to remain in the public eye long after her acting career and youth have gone south.

So, what horrors did Pammy find lurking in the shadows of celebrity? It would appear that unscrupulous types will steal your private sex tapes for profit, but the internet exposure didn’t do her public profile any harm and possibly even boosted it. Then there were the publicity saturated marriages to “bad boy” rock stars that barely survived the honeymoon. There was, of course, the domestic violence she suffered at the hands of husband Tommy Lee, but this was a result of his alcohol and drug fuelled aggression and nothing to do with her fame. It would have made equally as much sense to make a programme called The Up Side of Spousal Abuse and have her cite her wealth and celebrity.

So, stripped of any profound psychological insights, what was left? An overlong puff piece about an uninteresting actress with a limited CV, conducted by a sycophantic, oleaginous interviewer. The interview ended with Anderson sitting on Morgan’s lap, a sight that made my toes curl. Come to think of it, there may be a dark side to fame after all, namely having to come into contact with Morgan.

I have a deep and abiding love for Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse, but the first series of Harry and Paul left me deeply underwhelmed. It had its moments, but I was left with the feeling that the pair were trading upon their reputations.

So rejoice to the news that series two is clever, inventive, imaginative, frequently inspired and the funniest programme currently on TV.

Their Dragon’s Den pastiche in episode one was fabulous, but even greater joys were to come the following week with the Liverpool Capital of Culture running gag which saw various giants of the performing arts - including Matthew Bourne, Simon Rattle - conduct sweaty, Steven Gerrard style post-match interviews.

“I let me baton do the talking. Cheers!” droned Rattle, in thickest Scouse, before snatching a bottle of celebratory champagne and departing mid-question.

DETAILS

The Dark Side of Fame with Piers Morgan - BBC1, Monday, September 8, 10.35pm

Harry and Paul - BBC1, Friday, September 12, 9pm