My Big Fat Documentary(Radio 4) | iPlayer
Mrs Thatcher and the Writers (Radio 4) | iPlayer
Minimal Impact: Jesus’ Blood and Fluffy Clouds (Radio 4) | iPlayer
Radio, particularly BBC radio, consistently puts out properly amazing documentaries. Real-life stories that move you to tears or change the way you think; introductions to remarkable people, revelations around histories you thought you knew. I love ’em. Aside from music, documentaries are the audio that makes my day.
And Radio 4’s schedule last week gave us doc lovers more than enough to be getting on with, including an in-depth look at Interpol and an examination of how techniques learned from air disasters are changing the way surgeons work in the operating theatre. But my favourite was Scottee’s My Big Fat Documentary. Scottee is a performance artist and writer. He is fond of a sequin and an event (he threw cake at Rihanna during an X Factor performance) and he is fat. Militantly fat. “Here’s what this documentary is not about,” he said. “It’s not about solving the obesity crisis or how to lose weight.” No, it wasn’t. A lot of Scottee’s programme was a celebration of his Hamburger Queen competition, a talent show for the fat and fabulous. Hooray to that.
If this had been the only thing his doc was about, it would have been fun, but also – as so much of Hamburger Queen is visual – perhaps a bit of a shame. But Scottee, working with the excellent producer Tamsin Hughes, also did two long interviews: the first with Dr Christian Jessen, presenter of Supersize vs Superskinny, and the second with Scottee’s mum, Sarah. These two talks took everything to a different level. Scottee went in hard on Jessen, getting him to talk about the mindset of doctors when it comes to fat people – “I don’t think you can be fat and healthy,” said Dr C. “It’s a chronic disease” – and about the mindset of people who are fat: “A disordered state of mind leads to disordered eating.”
They talked about body building. Scottee described it as “a more socially acceptable addiction”. Dr C, who has had his own problems around body issues (he’s had body dysmorphia), said: “To say I’m fat and it’s happy and it’s fine is a lie.” Their talk was combative and revealing.
The one with Scottee’s mum was much less argumentative, but no less honest. Sarah cried as she talked about her own relationship with food and her body and how she had hoped not to pass it on to her sons. Scottee recalled how once, when his little brother was offered fruit, he refused, saying: “No, I’m too fat.” He was two. The feelings behind the fatness are complicated.
As are our feelings about (whisper her name) Margaret Thatcher. In another excellent Radio 4 documentary, Mrs Thatcher and the Writers, DJ Taylor went around interviewing writers who’d had tea with Mrs T, plus those who hadn’t but who had chosen to write about her. Hilary Mantel, as ever, was the best. Thatcher was about “female appetite”, she said. While male writers talked about how sexually attractive Thatcher was, Mantel discussed Thatcher’s construction of femininity. “Stick a pussy cat bow on it!” said Mantel, before adding: “As a camp phenomenon, she’s really underrated.”
More? Try Minimal Impact, the two-parter on the influence of minimalism on music and art that was on last week too. Minimalist music is a bit like cricket, said the Orb’s Alex Paterson: “I love cricket. It goes on for five days and it’s absolutely boring, but I love it.” Still more? For all you proper documentary lovers: Falling Tree, an independent production company known for its meticulous but experimental approach to radio, has put all of its amazing docs on its new website. You’ll be there for hours. Bliss.
