paedophilia speeial had little to say about ehild abuse. but tnore to do with the depths that some eelebrities will plttttib to get on TV. ('learl}‘ haying learned no lessons from the si\- part series of Brass liy't'. famous folk lined tip to get their mugs on sereen. thinking \irtually nothing of what they were aetually being asked It) say.
()therwise. why would Bernard .\lanning go in front of a eamera to talk about a made—up yellow drug ealled ('ake'.’ How on earth eottld Steyen Berkoff freak out about the environmental terror of ‘heay‘y' eleetrieity“? 'l'here were paeks of media magnets lining tip to get all emotional about an elephant ealled ('arla which had swallowed its own head while eaptiy'e in an liast liuropean mm. The berating of Andrew Morton on Radio I show Blue .lum belongs to another realm of pleasure altogether. Perhaps the only taboo w‘hieh Morris appears to fear is to end up sitting on
‘I THINK NATHAN BARLEY IS BORN OUT OF A DEEP-SEATED HATRED OF YOUNG, CONFIDENT, FASHIONABLE MEN'
the fence of banality. liy'en in his tamer work. My ll'mngs #8245 824‘) A‘ [/7 the B.-\l-'l’.>\- winning short starring Paddy (‘onsidine. there‘s the say‘age death of an innoeent duek to upset people.
Although it seems like a departure. Nut/um Hurley marks a eontinued assualt by .\lorris on the body media - although in less direet form. (‘harlie Brooker. eo-writer of Nut/um Hurley and the TV eritie whose hilariously eutting eolumns are eolleeted up in the blistering .S't-reen Burn. doesn't think there‘ll be quite the frenzied reaction that preyious .\lorris proieets are used to onee their new eomedy drama is broadeast. 'We're hoping that the programme will speak for itself and we're not exaetly' rubbing our hands in expeetation at the kinds of people who are going to be upset by it.' Certainly. on the surface Nut/mu Hurley doesn’t look too harmful.
.\‘athan is a ‘self-faeilitating media node‘. a webmaster. filmmaker and DJ who has total faith that he is the epitome of urban eool yet is simultaneously terrified to the spot that he
might not be. He is played by t'elati\e new eomer .\'ieho|as Burns. (‘laire is a struggling doentnentary —maker desperately seeking funding for her film about a ehoir of reformed drug addiets. She is played by total neweomer ('laire ls'eelan. l)an writes eolumns for style bible Sugar .\l’t' and hates anything \aguely relating to urban eool. He is played by Boosli boy .lulian Barratt. 'lt struek me that .\'athan Barley was just the right kind of name.' replies Brooker to a question about why they ehose the name Nathan Barley. ‘I don't know why but it just sounds like there's something horrible about him. something of the swaggering eoek about town. It‘s just born out of a deep-seated hatred of young. eonfident. fashionable men. I think that's rational.‘
.\lathan. ('laire and Dan are eyentually enjoined in some kind of soeial splieing e\perimentation. It would appear. Beeanse the last thing you should e\peet from a ('hris .\lorris press release is elarity or anything along the lines of. ’.\'athan Barley is The (Wire lllL‘L‘[\ .l/t' I'tlIHf/y' L‘l‘tissetl \\ lllt .\lMH/Hit'ly' l-ii/m/ous.‘ Still. eonsidering that some of his shows haye appeared on 'l'\' with barely 24 hours notiee. haying a (’hris .\lorris press release in your hand feels like being my ited to a .lim (‘arrey media junket. 'lt's a bit of a myth that (‘hris is some kind of reeluse: it‘s just that he doesn‘t really see the point.‘ insists Bt'ooker. 'lle‘s not the sort of person who appears at awards eeremonies beaming from ear to ear but I think that's pretty healthy. Bill as to why he doesn‘t do many interyiew s. I‘m not sure. I guess you‘d haye to ask him. Bttt then. he doesn’t do too many intery iew s.‘
The few press audienees he’s e\ er granted tend to reyeal little about the real ('hris .\lorris. though plenty of personal information has leaked into the publie domain oyer the years. We know. for example. that he was brought up a striet (‘atholie and was sent to boarding sehool from where he went to Bristol l'niy'ersity. leay'ing with a degree in Zoology and a taste for 'messing about with tapes‘.
llis eareer began on loeal radio and flourished when he teamed tip with :\l'ltt;tttdo lannueei but he was recruited and saeked only to be reeruited again at an alarming rate. lle inyented .-\lan Partridge. ad-libbed with Peter Cook and announeed the death of .\liehael lleseltine on air (he got saeked for thati. The BBC brought him to TV attention with The Day Today and on (‘hannel 4 he produeed Brass lz‘y'e. getting into trouble for broadeasting
EYE -/
a subliminal message whieh was less than eomplimentary to then (’hannel 4 ehief .\liehael (irade. before turning in the more surreal. yet no less disturbing flotation tank of [an].
(iuessing is a dangerotIs game with .\lorris bill the ('hannel 4 Barley sounds like Vietor .\leldrew resttrreeted by Noughties eynieism. llaying single-handedly turned the 'l‘\' spoof into a bleak. blaek artform. he's attempting to turn the siteom on its head and split its brains open. .\lorris. it must be remembered. is the single most important eomie talent to emerge in Britain in our lifetime. a man whose artistie brayery knows few bounds.
('harlie Bt'ookct'. Ilttittglt. plays their \enture down. belieying that he and .\lorris won‘t be ‘making anything groundbreaking. btit doing something that is hopefully jtist funny". But then a funny siteom would be groundln‘eaking in a world soiled by My Hero and My l'tllllf/t.
Nathan Barley starts on Channel 4 in February; Screen Burn by Charlie Brooker is published by Faber on Thu 6 Jan.
./ .z‘ x. ‘ THE LIST 21