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Sarah, it’s a right Royal rip-off!
Duchess of York follows in footsteps of Silla’s TV estate shows
SHE may be from the noble classes, but a corner of Camden Town learned this week that even the blue-blooded might not be averse to a spot of tea-leafing.
The Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson, may not have come across Silla Carron before – the tough-talking tenants leader from Camden Town normally tackles Prime Ministers and Home Secretaries rather than former members of the Royal family.
But the idea behind her new ITV programme Duchess On The Estate, a two-part film about what happened when she tried to improve life on a council estate, bears remarkable similarities to Ms Carron’s own award-winning documentary.
Unlike the Duchess, however, Ms Carron won plaudits galore for The Estate We’re In, the original SOS series which showed her taking the ideas that helped her turn around the fortunes of the Clarence Way Estate to a sink estate in Plymouth.
“She’s nicked my programme,” said Ms Carron yesterday (Wednesday).
Both shows centre on the leading ladies visiting an estate somewhere in Britain before trying to make a difference.
While Ms Carron has been commissioned for a second series, Fergie has reportedly fled the country over the critical and public panning her attempts received.
But unlike Ms Carron, she has a luxury property in New York’s Manhattan to return home to.
Speaking last night (Wednesday), Ms Carron praised the gaffe-prone Royal for caring, and had some sympathy for her drubbing in the press, but said she should have chosen a more original subject and a better title.
“All power to her, but she’s nicked it,” said Ms Carron, a tiny but inimitable figure well known for frightening off even the hardest of drug dealers, often with a few carefully chosen words.
She added: “They didn’t have the idea themselves and we did it with great success – we’ve won awards. I’ve been back to Plymouth to see and they’ve kept it up. That’s what it’s about – results. If she can get results so be it.”
With a tongue-in-cheek chuckle, she said: “I’m not the duchess of my estates – I’m the Queen.”
Ms Carron received glowing praise from Royal Television Society Awards judges, who said the programme had “an original purpose and premise and a real star”. But Fergie was lampooned by many TV critics and some of the locals she was preaching to. The final part was shown on Tuesday but not before she had told a chat show: “Do you know what? Perhaps this will be the lesson to me to never do another documentary in this country.”
While the Duchess may be waiting a while before getting another invitation to sample life on Britain’s estates, Ms Carron has been commissioned to get to work again for Estate We’re In 2. She will be back on the BBC early next year.
BBC Daytime Controller Liam Keelan said: “The first series of The Estate We’re In proved a hit with viewers and critics alike, winning a Broadcast and RTS award. It gets right to the heart of an issue which people care passionately about and I’m delighted to commission this new series.” |
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