Cunk on Earth (BBC Documentary S1, E1-5; 2022)
Creator: Charlie Brooker
FG asks X, “where have you been? ... haven't seen you in a while.”
X replies, “Oh, I have just been to Amritsar.”
“But why did you go there?” asks FG.
“...it was just on my bucket list. I always wanted to go there,” said X.
To which FG, with facial expressions a poker player would envy, blurted, “so now that you have fulfilled your bucket list, does that mean now you can happily kick the bucket?”
At the end of the five episodes, the viewers go off with the idea that humankind is actually regressing after all that leaps and bounds. Gone are the days when innovations, scientific discoveries and technological advancements were feted. Now we tend to reward people for mediocrity and for things that border on stupidity.
The highlights of this docuseries are the interviews between Cunk and the highly erudite guests of their fields. Cunk erroneously thinks very highly of herself. She is set on her ideas; her reference points are her ex-boyfriend, Sean, her flamboyant tarot card-reading aunt, and perhaps her intellectually challenged mates. She asks the most embarrassing questions to her guests and openly disagrees and argues with their opinion. The facial expressions of these guests are priceless. I am sure it is all part of showbiz, but how they responded to Cunk’s dumb statements is classic.
A light-hearted presentation with British dry humour laced with profanity. It may be interpreted as a swipe to the working class or the nouveau riche who climbed the social ladder, not by class and education but by their sheer ability to make money and command power.
