Canary Catch Up: sewage scandal, DWP propaganda, and a haunting return

Welcome to The Canary Catch Up. Each Sunday, the Canary’s Rachel Charlton-Dailey will bring us bang up to date with the telly she’s been obsessed with, what she’s hate-watching, and what she can’t wait to get stuck into.

Warning- Spoilers for Bridgerton ahead!

Well, isn’t this exciting! The thing about me is I love ALL telly, there’s very little I won’t watch, to be honest. From a hard-hitting drama to Strictly, I’m there. That’s why I’m over the bloody moon to bring you the Canary Catch Up. Every Sunday, I’ll be here rounding up what I loved, things that I think you need to watch, and of course, the silly TV moments we couldn’t stop talking about.

Murky sewage scandal laid bare

Something that stopped me in my tracks this week was Dirty Business on Channel 4. The docudrama brought the sewage scandal, which destroyed our rivers and coastlands, whilst also risking many people’s health into stark focus. Channel 4 did an excellent job of holding the water companies and the regulators to blame. Showing just how much the latter was in the pockets of the former. But it also highlighted just how detrimental the scandal was for a lot of people personally, and also the cruelty of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

In one absolutely rage-inducing scene, Reuben, an ex-surfer, attempts to be assessed for Personal Independence Payments (PIP). Throughout his assessment, his distress is ignored. The assessor tells him to only focus on the days when he’s not having Ménière’s drop attacks. This is despite him pointing out that the attacks happen at least three times a week and that they leave him paralysed. As a disabled person, I sobbed when he failed his assessment and told the assessor, “I don’t know what to do.” This is such a raw look at how much the DWP is failing those with chronic illnesses; everyone needs to watch it.

Back to the Ton for Bridgerton series 4

Dearest gentle reader, as we head back to the Ton, this writer has many questions she needs answered. Why is Francesca so mad to see Michaela? Who is the new Lady Penwood? And most importantly, how the fuck did Benedict become obsessed with a woman he met at a party yet not realise she wasn’t white?

Yes, it’s back to  Netflix’s dazzling alternate reality Georgian drama where racism doesn’t exist, but also it does. I will admit I’m only on episode 2 so far, but I screamed my face off when we found out who the new lady Penwood is. Everyone’s fave villain, Cressida Cowper! The carriage scene might’ve been a highlight of last series for many, but mine was when this absolute queen showed up pretending to be Lady Whistledown to the soundtrack of Confident by Demi Lovato on strings.

BBC doing the DWP’s work for them, again

The BBC were full of disability hate this week. Alongside airing a man with tourette’s tics to cause division between marginalised communities, they also aired a benefits-hating Panorama. The title says it all, really: The Rising Cost of Health Benefits. As usual, the BBC presented this as concern for taxpayers when it was obviously another attempt to call disabled people scroungers. 

The show was packed to the rafters with murky think tanks like Iain Duncan Smith’s Centre for Social Justice and the Institute of Economic Affairs. Their faux concern was barely hiding their utter contempt for disabled people. There was, of course, the usual poor disabled person exploited for the cameras whilst the presenter, Bronagh Munroe, shat all over autism and ADHD. It was a massively transparent PR piece from the DWP.

Anyone for one last haunting?

Anyone who knows me knows that my favourite TV show EVER is the BBC’s Ghosts. I was left bereft in 2023 when the team announced they were done with the ridiculous spectres forever. But in fairness, I actually respected that they chose to end it before it got too tired. They closed the show off well, and there were no more stories to tell. Or so we thought.

It turns out there’s still one more haunting left. The team announced this week that Ghosts: The Possession of Button House starts filming next week. That’s right, we’re getting a Ghosts movie! I can’t even begin to explain my excitement for this one, lads. I cannot believe my emotional support, silly little dead people are coming back – and I will be so fucking seated for this film.

Featured image via the Canary