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Using archive footage, the actor takes us on a whistle-stop tour through Britain’s past – think Vic Reeves meets Philomena Cunk, in ye olden days
Rogue historian Michael Squeamish, author of Fish & Chips and Frogs’ Legs: Britain and Europe Since the War and presenter of last year’s Road to Brexit documentary, returns to alleviate our lockdown boredom with a short series of even shorter films about large, unwieldy subjects in Squeamish About… (BBC Two). This time, the comic creation of Arthur Mathews and Matt Berry – the latter also plays the title character – is taking us on a whistle-stop tour through the history of entertainments (or “EnTERtainMents!” as Berry’s unique gift for demented emphases and somehow vocalising random capitalisations renders it), rElationSHips!, LoNdon! and THE CountRY!. Squeamish’s own penchant for speaking English just two degrees off to the side of the tracks on which it usually runs (“sex intercourse”, “they would be of the bullshit”) and fearless translation, dubbing and subtitling of anyone speaking in a regional accent – especially from “up nowath” – or foreign language are all present and incorrect too.
Their patented blend of silliness and surreality enables them to skip through time and place and over facts on a glorious whim. This is a world where the Great Fire of London caused “£57-worth of damage”, Cork is “just 20 miles from Devon” and Motown moved its headquarters from Detroit to Batley, Yorkshire, in the 60s to facilitate the Northern soul scene. It is like being pulled along by Vic Reeves on one side and Philomena Cunk on the other, all in seven-league boots. Continue reading...