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Harbour Lives – review Harbour Lives – review
(2 months later)
Do you remember when Friday night was the time to party? To release in one mad, drunken, heedless rush the pent-up energies and agonies of the working week? You do? Awful, wasn't it?Do you remember when Friday night was the time to party? To release in one mad, drunken, heedless rush the pent-up energies and agonies of the working week? You do? Awful, wasn't it?
Things are better now. Now we can curl up on the sofa and unwind under the soft caress of Ben Fogle, the distilled essence of what we imagine Britain to be, and his gentle explorations in Harbour Lives (ITV1). In each episode (we've reached the fifth of eight), Ben meets people who live their lives near a harbour. Poole harbour, in Dorset. I thought at first it would be a different harbour every week, but nothing so stressful has been attempted. It's always Poole. This week he met "Pete the Prawn" – aka Peter Miles, seafood fisherman and restaurateur – who catches prawns and oysters and cooks and serves them in his restaurant. Which is in Poole, Dorset. Ben Fogle is exploring Poole, which has a harbour, in Dorset.Things are better now. Now we can curl up on the sofa and unwind under the soft caress of Ben Fogle, the distilled essence of what we imagine Britain to be, and his gentle explorations in Harbour Lives (ITV1). In each episode (we've reached the fifth of eight), Ben meets people who live their lives near a harbour. Poole harbour, in Dorset. I thought at first it would be a different harbour every week, but nothing so stressful has been attempted. It's always Poole. This week he met "Pete the Prawn" – aka Peter Miles, seafood fisherman and restaurateur – who catches prawns and oysters and cooks and serves them in his restaurant. Which is in Poole, Dorset. Ben Fogle is exploring Poole, which has a harbour, in Dorset.
Every few minutes there are some aerial shots of Poole, Dorset – lapis lazuli seas set in the gleaming golden beaches. Come on in. The water's lovely. Let the gentle splash of timeworn phrases dropping neatly into place soothe your fretful mind. This is a world of "imposing, craggy cliffs … serene beaches … rich history", and villages in which Ben finds himself "stepping back in time into a bygone era". The script – occasional tautology aside – is plain, serviceable stuff, measured out and cut by the yard.Every few minutes there are some aerial shots of Poole, Dorset – lapis lazuli seas set in the gleaming golden beaches. Come on in. The water's lovely. Let the gentle splash of timeworn phrases dropping neatly into place soothe your fretful mind. This is a world of "imposing, craggy cliffs … serene beaches … rich history", and villages in which Ben finds himself "stepping back in time into a bygone era". The script – occasional tautology aside – is plain, serviceable stuff, measured out and cut by the yard.
In one of the villages – near Poole harbour, in Dorset – there is a pub, called the Bottle Inn. It is 500 years old and has a rich history, near the craggy cliffs and serene beaches of Poole, Dorset. The new owners have reinstated the old annual nettle-eating contest ("eccentric competitions are an important part of the Dorset country code" says Ben, who – one notes without judgment because one's brain is now starting to deliquesce and dribble slowly out of one's ears – does not attend it himself). One villager wins. The other villagers clap.In one of the villages – near Poole harbour, in Dorset – there is a pub, called the Bottle Inn. It is 500 years old and has a rich history, near the craggy cliffs and serene beaches of Poole, Dorset. The new owners have reinstated the old annual nettle-eating contest ("eccentric competitions are an important part of the Dorset country code" says Ben, who – one notes without judgment because one's brain is now starting to deliquesce and dribble slowly out of one's ears – does not attend it himself). One villager wins. The other villagers clap.
Meanwhile, the harbourmaster gazes out across the 10,000 acres of sea under his command and makes sure the ships ploughing their way ceaselessly back and forth stay safe. Come on in, I tell you. The water's lovely.Meanwhile, the harbourmaster gazes out across the 10,000 acres of sea under his command and makes sure the ships ploughing their way ceaselessly back and forth stay safe. Come on in, I tell you. The water's lovely.
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