Celebrity: A 21st-Century Story

[version]

Anyone watching this? Stumbled across it on iPlayer the other night and might give it a go. It's a four-part series charting celebrity from Pop Idol and Big Brother through to social media and the present day with a bunch of people like Jordan and Gareth Gates being interviewed, as well as tabloid journalists etc.

I'm not really interested in these people, but the phenomenon as a whole is interesting.

BBC Two - Celebrity: A 21st-Century Story, Series 1, Episode 1

Charting the first years of the century, this film examines fame in the early noughties.

www.bbc.co.uk

BBC Two - Celebrity: A 21st-Century Story, Series 1, Episode 2

A look back at how different groups cashed in on fame in the late noughties.

www.bbc.co.uk

BBC Two - Celebrity: A 21st-Century Story, Series 1, Episode 3

A film charting a digital revolution, with celebrities at its forefront.

www.bbc.co.uk

BBC Two - Celebrity: A 21st-Century Story, Series 1, Episode 4

This film examines how celebrities have taken power in the last five years.

www.bbc.co.uk

This bit from the first episode's write-up caught my attention,

In a few short years, celebrity had become currency, and in 2006 things came full circle when Celebrity Big Brother - a vehicle created to turn ordinary people into celebrities but now pitching celebrities as ordinary people - took average joe Paris Hilton lookalike Chantelle Houghton, sent her into the house to pretend to be a celebrity… and she won. The celebrity bubble had expanded beyond all reason, as had our appetite for the newly famous. Entire industries had emerged and adapted to monetise the trend. But when the commodity being cashed in on is people’s lives, for some, there is a hefty price to pay.

 

[luka]

Nah

 

[john eden]

Report back, @version ! Is it a load of nonsense strapped around archival clips or is it decent analysis?

 

[john eden]

I'd definitely watch it if Fred Vermorel was in it, but if it's the cast of The Only Way Is Essex and Michael MacIntyre remember Big Brother season 3 then I will pass.

 

[boxedjoy]

I hope this has Jordan and Gates in the same room as she famously broke his dick when she was taking his virginity

 

[boxedjoy]

also that Chantelle Houghton song was a banger tbh

 

[version]

I'm concerned it's gonna be like one of those music or TV retrospective things with Stuart Maconie and co going over various moments.

 

[woops]

cultural commentators

 

[Murphy]

Emasculation icon.