Behaving Ourselves: Mitchell on Manners (Radio 4) | iPlayer
Serial
Is a rave review polite? Would it be better manners to nudge people in the direction of a great programme by saying: “Why not try this show? You may enjoy it, though, of course, it might not be your sort of thing at all…” Is enthusiasm not comme il faut?
I only ask because David Mitchell has made four programmes about manners for Radio 4 and I really, really loved them. They took the place of the regular 9am shows from Monday to Thursday (goodbye Start the Week, The Long View, Midweek, In Our Time) and they brightened up those grumpy, grey mornings.
This came as a surprise. The question of manners does not interest me in the slightest: it’s horribly Fry-lite, a twee subject that couldn’t be more Radio 4 if it tried. Plus, who wants a prerecorded show, stripped across the week, at a time when you might want to think about what’s happening in the world? People who listen to 4Extra, not Radio 4.
Well, phooey to me. Mitchell blew all my prejudices away, simply by doing his job really well. His script was excellent, his asides hilarious and – hooray! – he actually bothered to go out and do the interviews. In the first show, he chatted to several market stall owners and managed to engage passersby so much they started talking too.
In programme two, he got in a proper flap when he was half an hour late for a lunch and turned on the full English apology when he arrived. Full marks to the producer, Chris Ledgard, for keeping the recording going throughout. Mitchell’s flustering was exemplary and the opening of programme three, where he read out what he wanted to say and then changed it, really made me laugh.
Mitchell is a national name now, partly because of Peep Show, but mostly because he’s excellent on panel shows, whether hosting or a guest, and, despite all our carping about same old, same old, there are very few people who are. Behind all his humour is a barely disguised anger (at himself, at others, at ridiculousness in general) and it’s that which fuels his jokes and makes me howl. People can be angry for many reasons, but Mitchell is angry because he’s a romantic. He wants the world to be a better place and he knows it can be. Lord knows if he’s converted anyone to his idea of how we should behave, but he made my week better by making me laugh. I call that excellent manners.
A quick note about season two of Serial. It’s good – beautifully made as ever – but it isn’t as engaging as the first season. People are watching Making a Murderer for a similar bad justice fix. (Perhaps that’s what we all wanted: excellent true crime podcasting. There are enough other podcasts trying to do just that.) But also there’s not enough Sarah Koenig. Because the interviews with Bowe Bergdahl are done by Mark Boal, Koenig is less present and she is missed. Perhaps we’ll get our Koenig fix as the series continues, out of Afghanistan/ Pakistan and into American politics. Or perhaps the other new Serial series, which has been promised, is more Koenig-heavy. I hope so.
