Terrestrial television may sometimes seem old-fashioned – but this only enhances its ability to tease and surprise its audience. This week, Channel 4 brought back satire with a bang
Few people will have been happier yesterday with headlines such as “Channel 4 fans fume as Gregg Wallace ‘ends career’ after eating ‘human meat’” than Gregg Wallace. Taking advantage of his overbearingly cheery persona, the presenter has pulled off one of the best hoaxes in media history with his bogus documentary The British Miracle Meat.
Success in these cases is usually measured by tabloid outrage, feigned or otherwise, and threatened complaints to Ofcom, but Wallace’s sting operation successfully fooled, provoked or at least surprised nearly everyone. Perhaps it is proof that, although it is losing ground to streaming services and social media, broadcast television still has the power to move the dial – but let’s not be too hasty.
