Is this the worst thing ever?

VIDEO: A new reality show is set to do for Liverpool what TOWIE did for Essex – and that’s as bad as it sounds.


There’s a viral video doing the rounds on Facebook and Twitter, and if you haven’t seen it, you’re one of the lucky ones.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkqeQMUWVWU[/youtube]

It’s a trailer for a new programme called ‘This is Liverpool’, another version of the incredibly popular ‘scripted reality’ shows that TV networks are going crazy for.

Think Made in Chelsea, TOWIE and Geordie Shore – despite the incredibly low-budget trailer’s insistence to the contrary.

More accurately, think Desperate Scousewives, E4’s ill-fated attempt to bring Geordie Shore to Merseyside, which was mercifully killed off after one series due to miniscule ratings.

It looks like This is Liverpool is pretty much the same deal as Scousewives. It’s full of permatanned, acrylic-clawed women and short back and sided men in G-Star jeans. They spend most of the trailer doing what Scousers do – getting pissed, having scraps, and generally taking themselves far too seriously.

Except that’s not what Scousers do. Every student in Liverpool has had to deal with jokes from mates in other cities about getting tanned a shade of orange or having a few fights on a Saturday night.

Watch the trailer and judge for yourself

But everyone who lives here knows that’s not true. Liverpool is a fiercely independent, cosmopolitan city, and it’s full of very clever and hard-working people who have put a lot of effort into giving the city its amazing reputation.

That’s why it’s an insult to them and the city itself for a group of fame-hungry wannabes to act like morons, and make our rich, vibrant city look like a cultural cesspool.

We’ve all got friends native to Liverpool, who get pretty annoyed when you pull out that shitty “EY EY, CALM DOWN!” joke that Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse created, and it’s easy to see why – that sketch made Scousers look like idiotic, belligerent (not to mention poorly-dressed) morons, and it was a stereotype that endured for a long time.

Which is why it’s so odd to think that a group of Liverpudlians would voluntarily star in a show apparently dedicated to creating an image of Scousers that is just as inaccurate and damaging.

There’s more to Liverpool than the city shown in the show

When you think of Essex, you don’t think of rolling green hills, industry or culture – you think of dead-eyed Joey Essex wondering how many sides a square has. And if This is Liverpool becomes a hit, the enduring image of this city will become one of vacuous losers throwing drinks in each other’s faces.

I mean, obviously it won’t, because it’s probably safe to say that the show, like Scousewives before it, will be cancelled after one season, the lowest-common-denominator ‘stars’ will make a few paid appearances at Garlands, and the show will forever vanish from the city’s collective memory. Judging by the Facebook page ‘Real Scousers against the showing of ‘This is Liverpool”, which has gained almost 7,000 likes in 24 hours, the show isn’t going to have the warmest reception in its home city.

It’s just a shame that the people from the city – another city than the one depicted in This is Liverpool – will have yet another hurdle of inaccurate stereotypes to cross to make the UK’s image of Liverpool match the reality.

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