Dramality – Stupid or just plain fun?

Dramality. This is possibly one of the most frustrating yet entertaining aspects of television today. I’m sure you’re all familiar with dramality.

The Only Way Is Essex (more fondly known as TOWIE) pioneered dramality right in to the mainstream of British television around October 2010.

One description I’ve seen said: “Real people in modified situations, saying unscripted lines but in a structured way”. This seems fairly unnatural to me yet I still continue to tune in and gormlessly watch.

Why do I watch it? Junk food for the brain perhaps? Empty calories?



On Sunday my family all sat down in front of the television after dinner and my mother switched TOWIE on. Most people complained, including me and especially my grandparents.

Alas, we still paid attention to the TV, we still discussed Arg and Lydia’s break up. It pains me to reveal that we even shed a tear for Arg.

Watching the characters carefully preened and discussing their lives in their perfectly decorated lounge made me wonder if this is one of those structured modified situations people talk about.

 Having to act out my love life and having it splashed all over ITV2 and only being paid £50 a day doesn’t seem worth the humiliation.

I think my dignity is worth much more than borderline minimum wage.

Essentially, why should we care about their lives? The answer is fairly simple. We’re a load of nosy old idiots. We love the escapism. We love watching them humiliate themselves for our pleasure.

It seems quite sick really but it’s just a condensed, slightly more down to earth Hollywood. Lower middle class girls wearing Louboutins. Red carpet access at the Brits. At least the Kardashians have a claim to fame, albeit a fairly weak one.

The copycat programmes released in the UK were an absolute disaster.

Desperate Scousewives flopped after one season yet TOWIE still gets the high viewing figures. The characters on TOWIE are loveable bickering airheads.

The Scousewives are hard faced and nasty. You rarely see characters from Desperate Scousewives or Geordie Shore splashed over the tabloids yet every day we hear of one of the TOWIE clan’s gaffs.

That is where they got it right. I watch TOWIE simply because it makes me laugh, at them not with them of course. The humour makes up for the ridiculousness of the programme, which is why it is my ultimate guilty pleasure.