Scarlett Moffatt’s controversial Channel 4 documentary The British Tribe Next Door kicks off tonight and it’s every bit as painful and problematic as you’d imagine.
The four-part series sees the Gogglebox star and her family relocate to Namibia along with an exact replica of their Geordie house and 20,000 of their belongings, so they can feel at ease and show the Himba people what they’re missing out on.
You would have thought there would have been some conversation about whether or not this is appropriate before it went into production, but obviously, there wasn’t and alas the Moffatts embarked to southwest Africa for one month.
Scarlett, along with her mum Betty, dad Mark, sister Ava-Grace and grandma Christine, all packed their lives up to go and ‘live’ among the tribe and, of course, the hour-long first instalment is filled to the brim with awkward moments, such as the whole family looking incredibly uncomfortable watching a welcome dance and Scarlett talking about her penchant for fake tanning to a group of black women.
There are, however, some poignant moments. Early on we got to bare witness to a woman seeing her reflection for the first time and not realising that she was, in fact, staring at herself. However, this particularly noteworthy scene was overshadowed by Scarlett, who emerged from upstairs all teary-eyed over what she’d just seen.
All in all, the Moffatts come across pretty self-centred. For example, Scarlett, 29, saw the programme as an opportunity to bravely open up about her body confidence issues, admitting that she hasn’t seen herself naked in a mirror since she was 18. Scarlett’s uneasiness then became a major narrative within the episode, with the female members of the tribe requesting that she dressed in their traditional clothes – which involved showing off her breasts.
‘Even when I was slim, I looked in the mirror and saw someone that I didn’t like,’ Scarlett told the camera. ‘I’m really envious of the fact they can walk around with it all hanging out.’
Power to Scarlett for being so frank, but surely the nature of the series was to delve deep into the cultural differences between two different groups of people?
Key moments:
- Scarlett getting real about her body confidence issues and reservations about wearing the tribe’s traditional dress
- A female tribe member seeing her reflection for the first time
- Scarlett going to collect water and coming across a snake
- Mark showing the men how to use a metal detector
Verdict:
Scarlett’s misgivings were brought into conversation time and time and again and it seemed as though she was more interested in grappling with them, rather than using her time and platform to create a piece of television that could stimulate some sort of important anthropological conversation.
Perhaps we expected too much.
Definitely tune in if you want to watch something through gritted teeth.
The British Tribe Next Door airs tonight at 9.15pm on Channel 4.
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