THE COUNTRY COUNCIL,
BBC1, 9pm
OK, you get a prize if you can name a topic duller than local government – particularly local government in a rural area.
I certainly thought this new series would be tedious, but I was pleasantly surprised.
It follows the front line staff of Argyll and Bute Council and is anything but dull. Within a few seconds you’ll be hearing of staff being abused as “knob end!” and see another ordering a naked man at the harbour side to “get the clothes on now!”
The council is stationed at a castle, and they deal with tiny coastal communities and near-empty islands, and yet still need to deal with bins, litter and, yes, abuse and naked people. We also see that many council staff have to act as social workers and agony aunts. Their job is rarely confined to being a bureaucrat behind a desk – so how will this frantic multi-tasking cope with austerity?
GORDON RAMSAY ON COCAINE,
STV, 9pm
HOW can the rest of this programme possibly match the giddy promise of the title?
But calm yourselves, for it is not actually wild and crazy footage of “Gordon Ramsay on cocaine”. Instead, it is Gordon Ramsay investigating the cocaine trade and the terrible damage it does.
It’s a personal film for the chef as he has lost two people to drug abuse, and has been informed that traces of the drug have been found in his restaurant toilets. Is the stuff everywhere, then? If so, how does it get here, and at what cost? Across two episodes, he’ll journey to Colombia – and Bournemouth – to find out.
Let’s not mock the inclusion of Bournemouth. Ramsay is with the police as they stop suspicious cars one afternoon, and find two drivers, both on the school run, who test positive for the drug. But is it actually “cocaine”? We see some Colombians using cement and battery acid to cook up their drugs.
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