DVD weekly: Big Fat Gypsy Weddings – series two

"It's no Mad Men" may be the greatest single understatement I'm ever likely to make. This is why you come here - for hard-hitting and precise critiques.

Released: Monday 7th May 2012

Big Fat Gypsy Weddings – Series Two (DVD)
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Let’s all point and laugh at the minority group, shall we? Let’s ridicule their stupid customs and traditions. Oh, how their lives are so different to ours. Ha! The idiots. Because, let’s be honest, that’s why this show exists and is so popular. All the girls get married at 15 and live in caravans and have big tasteless weddings with giant toilet brush dresses? All the boys grope-rape girls until they can force them into a submissive relationship to churn out kids and clean the family trailer for the rest of their lives. Ha! The idiots. AND they talk funny…

And yet, this documentary series – which no one can deny is an eye-opening insight into the traveller community – is actually presented in a surprisingly neutral way. There’s no piss-taking Dave Lamb voiceover, no obviously contrived set-ups and no apparently misleading edits. The film crew have been offered a rare insight into the gypsy way of life and they obviously treat that with respect. And they have to – otherwise they’ll answer to this man:

Paddy Doherty – bonafide Gypsy King, prize bare-knuckle boxer and survivor of a stint in the Big Brother house with Jedward AND Kerry Katona

In this second series of the show, we get to see a bit more than just competitive brides in badly-blinged marshmallow dresses. It digs a little deeper into some far more interesting corners of the traveller world, including meeting an openly gay – and therefore violently ousted – traveller, the illegal sports of bare knuckle boxing and ‘trap and horse racing’, the taboo relationships between gypsies and non-gypsies and the court-battled eviction of travellers at Dale Farm. I mean, I know it’s not Mad Men, but it’s interesting all the same.

And then of course, Big Fat Gypsy Weddings isn’t really all that balanced after all – it knows exactly what it’s doing. Just when the narrative threatens to spill into a serious debate on tolerance of other cultures, you can be sure that the show will throw up some images of a bulbous bride struggling to fit into the back of her carriage, two guys fighting in the street or – the Big Fat Gypsy Wedding secret weapon – some scantily-clad kids trying to dance sexily.

I fear that, by putting this image here, this site will now be monitored closely by some governmental department force

Overall, while the show leans towards a voyeuristic and sensationalist angle, it still frequently touches on some genuinely fascinating insights into the traveller community.

Hopefully, though, the inevitable third series will focus on a question that has long gone unanswered: Where DO they get all their money from? They spend thousands of pounds on these huge lavish weddings and brand new trailers – where does it all come from? I know they get paid cash in hand, but still. Is it drugs? WHAT IS IT?
Also out this week

Paul And Pauline Calf’s Video Diaries DVD
Sabrina The Teenage Witch – Complete Box Set DVD
Syndicate - Series One DVD
The Only Way Is Essex - Series Four DVD