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All is not gold...
May. 18th, 2021 09:09 pmThis was not going to be the next thing I posted about; there are several other posts queuing up in my head, waiting to be written. But what can I say? This one has jumped the queue, and this is what you get.
I'm one of the very few people in Britain who has never seen Bake Off. I didn't watch Sewing Bee, or The Great Pottery Throw Down. But finally they came up with a twist of the formula that did appeal to me, and I have been watching All That Glitters. The exhibition space of Birmingham Scool of Jewellery serves as a huge and palatial workshop in which a group of working jewellers - initially eight, working down to three - are given a series of tasks by two stars of the profession (I had never heard of them, but why would I have?).
Each week there are two challenges, the first to design an item which could become a best-selller, the second to produce a bespoke piece for a "client" who provides the show with a human interest story (the drag queen who is about to open a solo show, the couple who lost their engagement ring in a burglary). Each week one contestant is sent home, one has their bespoke piece chosen by the client, and one is named Jeweller of the Week. There is, in other words, far too much palaver, and unnecessary jeopardy, and of course everything has to be done against the clock - and comedian Katherine Ryan hosts, and works very hard to ensure that the audience isn't bored. She is nowhere near as irritating as this sounds.
There was never any risk that I would be bored: I was perectly happy to watch these very skilled people making pretty things, working precious metals, setting stones, twisting wire, cutting and twisting and setting, and only occasionally melting something they didn't mean to. I enjoyed hearing them explain the technical choices they were making - and I enjoyed seeing the pretty things that resulted.
ETA 1: I looked at the layout of the early episodes and wondered whether they had been filmed in lockdown: those very well-spaced workstations in that huge echoing space... But no, because a subsequent episode began with the explanation that filming had been suspended ar the advent of lockdown, and they had only now found a way to resume.
ETA 2: This is, I think, another pleasure for which I should thank Lucy Mangan. Her recommendations don't always work for me (the first episode of The Pursuit of Love is an hour I won't get back) but without her my viewing would be even deeper into its rut!
I'm one of the very few people in Britain who has never seen Bake Off. I didn't watch Sewing Bee, or The Great Pottery Throw Down. But finally they came up with a twist of the formula that did appeal to me, and I have been watching All That Glitters. The exhibition space of Birmingham Scool of Jewellery serves as a huge and palatial workshop in which a group of working jewellers - initially eight, working down to three - are given a series of tasks by two stars of the profession (I had never heard of them, but why would I have?).
Each week there are two challenges, the first to design an item which could become a best-selller, the second to produce a bespoke piece for a "client" who provides the show with a human interest story (the drag queen who is about to open a solo show, the couple who lost their engagement ring in a burglary). Each week one contestant is sent home, one has their bespoke piece chosen by the client, and one is named Jeweller of the Week. There is, in other words, far too much palaver, and unnecessary jeopardy, and of course everything has to be done against the clock - and comedian Katherine Ryan hosts, and works very hard to ensure that the audience isn't bored. She is nowhere near as irritating as this sounds.
There was never any risk that I would be bored: I was perectly happy to watch these very skilled people making pretty things, working precious metals, setting stones, twisting wire, cutting and twisting and setting, and only occasionally melting something they didn't mean to. I enjoyed hearing them explain the technical choices they were making - and I enjoyed seeing the pretty things that resulted.
ETA 1: I looked at the layout of the early episodes and wondered whether they had been filmed in lockdown: those very well-spaced workstations in that huge echoing space... But no, because a subsequent episode began with the explanation that filming had been suspended ar the advent of lockdown, and they had only now found a way to resume.
ETA 2: This is, I think, another pleasure for which I should thank Lucy Mangan. Her recommendations don't always work for me (the first episode of The Pursuit of Love is an hour I won't get back) but without her my viewing would be even deeper into its rut!
