Viewing diary 18/01/11

Today, I watched Ready Steady Drink (BBC3). The programme follows young actress Emily Atack as she examines the effect that binge drinking on the youth of Manchester and Newcastle. Being on BBC3, and featuring a prominant young celebrity, the programme is obviously aimed at a young audience and while the information could be incredibly useful to them, I felt that it suffered from a lack of substance. Throughout the course of the programme, I found myself wishing that the producers had decided to use an expert with some scientific knowledge as the presenter. This would have given the show much more credibility and delivered information in a more direct fashion. Instead, the bulk of the programme showed Ms. Atack simply being "shocked" at the sight of every drunk person she encountered and I felt that her lack of knowledge was counterproductive to the point the show was trying to make.