The Written Podcast: In Defence of - The Great Escapists

The Great Escapists is a documentary series focusing on Richard Hammond and Tori Belleci standard on a desert island and they have to try and survive and find rescue. That premise does stipulate it’s going to be an educational program in which Tori uses his experience gained from Mythbusters and working in the film industry to show us a bunch of helpful top tips, and Richard Hammond being the comedic element whilst also getting his hands dirty. I will admit that is what I was expecting and was surprised when I discovered it to be apropos to a situational comedy. The trailers did not showcase the true nature of the show, and that’s where I can see how people have taken a disliking to the show - they were also expecting something akin to education.

What we’ve got instead is a situational comedy about to guys stuck in a room telling a story about their time on a desert island, and basically being the best survivors ever and giving the impression that they can build anything out of rubbish, including a fully functioning car and tank, and a three storey treehouse apartment complex all in the first episode. I did sit down the expectation of being taught a few tricks here and there, and when the sequences depicting the interviews first appeared on screen, I was confused at first. This is not what the trailers depicted the show to be at all, and so I had to adjust to a different genre entirely, which is only made even more confusing when it still comes under the category of a documentary series, usually filled with facts. It’s basically fiction. Every conversation between Richard and Tori is scripted. They did not build that house themselves, and Richard did not build that car, nor did Tori build that Tank - at best it took a good few weeks of planning to make it work whilst looking as if it was made up of stuff washed ashore.

Now, none of what I’ve said has been positive about the show when this article is about defending it, which doesn’t make much sense I know. My defence for this show came when I had adjusted to the format of the show, and I had accepted the situational-comedy-esque style of the show. My defence came when Richard was being his on-screen persona, similar to that of which is displayed on The Grand Tour between James May and Jeremy Clarkson - it’s the same style of acting; emphasising his personality for comedic purposes. Richard’s been doing it for years, and so he slips into the scripted nature of the show effortlessly, whereas Tori has practically done nothing but non-scripted TV for years, and so his acting is a little wooden at times. My true defence of the show is, this was made with the intention of not taking itself too seriously, but marketed as if it was entirely serious.

If they had marketed and edited the trailers to resemble exactly what the show was about, it would have received much favourable opinions. We’re used to Richard’s on-screen personality from The Grand Tour, and why shouldn’t Tori branch out and do something different? They clearly had a lot of fun making it, but unfortunately it was let down by promising something different to what we got.

It is a good program. Once I had adjusted to what it was actually about, I was entertained. I found it funny, I found it a brilliant way to escape into a light-hearted series. When I finished the first episode I went back and rewatched it again, this time fully adjusted to the ideas it had within and found it just as entertaining, and was able to pick up upon the bits that I had missed during those times when I was a bit confused. Sadly, however, it seems that the trailers have subverted people’s expectations too much - an understandable reaction considering they’re literally designed to promote the show - and the show as a whole is suffering for it. The reviews slating it will deter people from watching it, even those who haven’t seen the trailers and wouldn’t have been tricked. It’s unfortunate, but I think Amazon has killed this show before it could grow. I just hope that I’m able to convince enough people to give it a chance.

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)