Moaning about the weather, standing in queues and avoiding eye contact on the tube – nobody is more aware of the quirks of British social life than the Brits themselves.
Which perhaps explains why 2 million of us tuned in to see ourselves mocked on Channel 4’s Very British Problems on Thursday night.
The new series got off to a respectable start, despite being pitted against Paul Hollywood’s appearance on Who Do You Think You Are? on BBC1, winning 10% of the audience share at 9pm.
Starring a string of talking heads, including Jonathan Ross, James Corden and Nigel Havers, the show is based on the popular Twitter feed of the same name.
Started in 2012 by technology journalist and editor Rob Temple, it gained a cult following through its unerring knack of identifying the peculiar cultural traits of Brits.
Recent updates include: “The indignity of trying to stop a dropped coin from rolling away”, and: “Feeling compelled to describe your gift as ‘nothing’ at the exact moment you hand it over”.
Within 10 days, it had 10,000 followers. After a string of celebrity endorsements that figure shot up to more than a million and a book deal soon followed.
It is a sign of the power of social media that Channel 4 has now tried to transform that online hype into a small screen hit.
Thursday night’s first episode was particularly popular with viewers aged 35-44, who accounted for 24% of its audience.
It featured Corden discussing British awkwardness with handshakes and Grace Dent on the lengths Brits will go to to avoid conversation.
