From being made homeless with a newborn to your ceiling caving in with damp, TV rarely shows the rage-inducing truth about renting – which is why series like Evicted and Help! My Home Is Disgusting are a breath of fresh air
At 34 years old, I’ve called at least 26 places home – most of these were privately rented. After the fallout from my parents’ divorce when I was a child, our single-parent family moved eight times until I left for university, not including some weeks spent in a family friend’s spare room while we waited for a council house. My mum went on to live in eight different properties. Home has always felt precarious, temporary, not ours. I still rent today, as does my mum. She retires this year and will never own her home again.
The one thing that has remained consistent while moving around is the TV set. It’s the first thing to unpack, offering escapism after a day of lugging boxes. But I have also always watched TV for “relatable content”. To see something of yourself on the screen is to feel seen in the world. However, I never saw a real reflection of our living situation on it while growing up.
