'A triumph': Baroness Blackstone reviews 'Shifty'
'Shifty,' episode 1: 'The Land of Make Believe' | Image courtesy of BBC Pictures’ Digital Picture Service
3 min read
Looking for a summer recess watch? Waste no time and go straight to Adam Curtis’ documentary series
It is not often possible to recommend a TV series as compelling as Adam Curtis’ Shifty. With the recess approaching, parliamentarians may have more time to search for programmes beyond immediate news and comment: waste no time looking and go straight to Shifty. Its director has already either won or been nominated for several Bafta awards, for earlier series such as the fascinating TraumaZone on Russia from 1985 to 1999.
The format is unusual, but is one which Curtis has been developing for some years since his earlier more conventional documentaries. He relies on combing the archive of news reports, political interviews, home videos, vox pops, popular music, fashion shows and much more.
'Shifty,' episode 5: 'The Democratisation of Everything'
Image courtesy of BBC Pictures’ Digital Picture Service
Some of this archival material will be familiar but much of it rarely seen – or long forgotten. It is a triumph of research. He cherry picks hundreds of extracts of material produced in the 1980s and 1990s. What he shows the viewer ranges from political events to small personal stories. As such it is a kaleidoscope from the magnificent to the mundane. There is no narrative and the clips are linked by captions, although sometimes it is hard to see how what follows relates to the preceding headline. Viewers are left to interpret the images themselves.
It is a kaleidoscope from the magnificent to the mundane
The theme is fairly clear if controversial. It is that the pursuit of extreme wealth and of individualism have undermined democratic values and diminished trust in politicians. Some viewers will disagree with this underlying message. Never mind, it is often a little obscure anyway. Even if they reject Curtis’s disillusion about late 20th-century Britain, there is plenty to interest and entertain them.
The series starts with Margaret Thatcher greeting children introduced to her by the repugnant Jimmy Saville before she invited them to her office. Interpret this as you will. Thatcher gets plenty of other coverage such as pronouncing on being proud to be British after the Falklands conflict. The suffering of ordinary British people under her premiership is covered without directly blaming her: deindustrialisation and factory closures, the miners’ strike against pit closures; high unemployment; the pain of the Black population in the face of discrimination and prejudice; and misogynist police in Reading baiting a woman who says she has been raped, accusing her of telling fairy stories.
There are also many light touches. They include a hilarious interview with the fashion designer Alexander McQueen, who wrote rude messages in the linings of the jackets he made for the rich; and an interview with Michael Foot at the Beaconsfield by-election in 1982 extolling the amazing virtues of the candidate, who would go very far (one Tony Blair). The series in fact ends with New Labour and the opening of the Dome.
If I have a criticism, it is that five hour-long episodes are too much to absorb. There is, however, no need to watch it all. Without a continuous narrative, it is easy to fast-forward in places and experience the poignancy and the nostalgia for an earlier era. For the under-40s, this may be difficult – but for young graduates, Adam Curtis has become a cult figure, so they may not be put off after all.
Baroness Blackstone is a Labour peer
Shifty
Created by: Adam Curtis
Broadcaster: BBC iPlayer
