'Big Fat Gypsy Weddings': Is it voyeurism and exploitative TV?

The second episode of Channel 4's Big Fat Gypsy Weddings aired last night following a week of controversy surrounding the documentary series.

Despite a strong ratings return for the show, TV critics appear to have turned on it and protests from the gypsy community itself have stepped up several notches. Letters of complaint have been sent to Channel 4's head office about its "Bigger Fatter Gypsier" ad campaign and more worryingly for the broadcaster, protesters have been getting in touch with sponsor Honda.



Last night's episode promised - as it does every week - to "get to the very heart of gypsy life". What we got was lots of illegal horse racing, a chap called Brendan who claimed that his ideal wedding would have "a good fight at the end" and an 8-year-old girl in tears on the day of her Holy Communion because she missed visiting hours at Strangeways prison, where her dad is currently doing time.

Channel 4 has argued that the show features a "wide range of voices" from the gypsy and travelling community and last night's instalment did feature a segment about travellers being forced to move on by local councils.

Occasionally, the show does throw up brief moments that make the viewer reflect on their own prejudices ("Some people say, 'Look, the gypsies have got a horse'. You've got a cat. You've got a dog. We've got a horse") but when these are interspersed with blokes chugging John Smiths during horse races and girls being shoved into car doors in massive dresses, the argument is tough to maintain.



Some critics have compared the series to a Victorian freak show, which is probably over-exaggerating the programme's flaws. There is a TV show worth making about the gypsy community, which examines fully their history, their contemporary troubles and why they stand by their traditions so strongly. But at the moment, Big Fat Gypsy Weddings isn't that show.

This is the third run of the programme and we're still hearing the same jaunty piano music, the same ever-so-slightly patronising voiceover and the whole production appears to be one big knowing nudge and wink to the viewers.

More importantly, the documentary makers appear to have run out of steam in finding new areas to explore. So much of the gypsy community (most notably its financial matters) appears to be off-limits that we're being fed the same stories (girls in big dresses stuck in cars, young kids dancing, men doing dodgy things, slightly moody shot of traveller being forced to live somewhere new) week after week. Perhaps Big Fat Gypsy Weddings' biggest crime third time around is that we've seen it all before.

Big Fat Gypsy Weddings continues on Tuesday nights at 9pm on Channel 4.

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