Paddy Wivell stuck a camera of out his window last year in leafy North London. The result is a programme which reveals how little the director knows about his neighbours
Just as they say you cannot lie on Twitter – 280 characters is enough to let your essential character show – it seems the same is true for television documentaries you make about yourself and your family.
This is the major lesson to take from The Pandemic at No 47 (Channel 4), a film made by the award-winning director and producer Paddy Wivell about living under lockdown. Unable, by definition, to go much beyond his house and street, Wivell posted notes through residents’ doors, inviting them to stop and chat whenever they went on their legal excursions to shops or out for a walk.
