A Very British Country House, Channel 4, review: a fun peep
behind the five-star curtain
Channel 4's latest fly-on-the-wall doc shows that life
behind the scenes at a posh hotel is as frantic as a kebab shop on Friday night
Jeff Robson
Sunday November 25th 2018
A Very British Country House
Sunday, Channel 4, 9pm
★★★★
If you’ve ever stayed at a posh hotel and felt that the
staff didn’t think you were quite good enough to be sullying the opulent
surroundings, The Great British Country House, Channel 4’s latest
fly-on-the-wall documentary series should reassure you that they’re only human
too – and that behind the scenes it’s as frantic as a kebab shop at Friday
night closing time.
The Buckinghamshire hotel Cliveden House hit the headlines
when Meghan Markle chose to stay there the night before her wedding. And for
royal-watchers the first episode had the build-up to her arrival in the opening
scenes. But you’ll be unsurprised to hear there was only a fleeting glimpse as
she strode up the red carpet, and no revelations about blocked toilet
emergencies or minibar vodkas topped up with tap water.
Instead the main focus was one the day-to-day running of the
place – if there can be anything day-to-day about maintaining a
three-hundred-year old ex-stately home and maintaining the standards of an
establishment which has seen the likes of Winston Churchill and Charlie Chaplin
arrive for a night’s kip and a full English and now caters to everyone from the
aristocracy to Russian oligarchs.
Critical Eye
The royal accolade turned out to be something of a
double-edged sword as the publicity resulted in a rush of bookings, but an even
more critical eye cast on the service from guests who noticed everything from a
touch of limescale in a kettle to a lack of crisps (only olives, I’m afraid)
with the terrace Champagne.
TV naturals
Dogs generally were one of the few things that head butler
Michael didn’t take completely in his stride (“anything below knee level’s
fine… but I had a bad experience with an Airedale once”). Otherwise he was as
unflappable as you’d expect a 25-year veteran to be, the benevolent sergeant-major
of the staff.
There were several other TV naturals among them, principally
wedding organiser Lydia, who’d wanted to work at Cliveden since seeing it as a
seven-year-old bridesmaid and now had her dream job,despite some demanding
requests (“someone asked for a road to be built through the garden for her
horse and carriage”) and
conference/banqueting head Lyndsey (“I could trip over air growing up; when I
told mum I was going to be a silver service waitress…”) .
Utterly down to earth and scarily efficient, they ensured
that the nuptials of TV executive Andy and his boyfriend Garfield (“when I was
growing up this was against the law… I wanted to make the day special for
everyone”) were as much a feelgood treat for viewers as the royal do down the road.
Altogether, a very good example of the genre. Though after watching it you may
never again be satisfied with an off-peak deal at a local Travelodge…
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