The Big Gypsy Eviction, BBC One, review
Catherine Gee reviews BBC One's contentious documentary The Big Gypsy Eviction, following the UK's largest Irish Traveller campsite's battle against eviction.
Irish travellers Mimi Sheridan and Mary Ann McCarthy in The Big Gypsy Eviction Photo: BBC
As we learned earlier this year following Channel 4’s Big Fat Gypsy Weddings, Irish Travellers pull in high ratings. The brash, extravagant ceremonies with severe fake tans and dresses that could weigh 30-40 kg attracted 8million viewers a week.
Tonight filmmaker Richard Parry gave us a rather more sober documentary – The Big Gypsy Eviction (BBC One). For six years he filmed Dale Farm, the largest settlement in the UK, near Basildon in Essex, as its inhabitants attempted to fight off eviction. They own the land but, because it is green belt, half of them don’t have planning permission to have built on there. Basildon council had repeatedly voted to expel them. The Travellers, on the other hand, were making the process as difficult as possible.
The Travellers themselves accepted Parry warmly – and, when around people they see as friendly, they do seem a welcoming, sociable group. However, as we learned, one local resident, the vocal Len Gridley whose house backs on to the campsite, had lost £300,000 from the value of his house. He was of the opinion that if he took £300,000 of the Travellers’ money they might kill him.
The Traveller community is a tight one and it has been on the site for 10 years so it’s easy to see why they don’t want to leave – especially considering no other council would willingly take them on.
Those who live in the nearby village of Cray’s Hill were adamant, however, that they wanted them out. As we saw towards the end of the programme, because the Travellers are so determined to fight for their campsite, it would cost £8 million of local authority money to evict them.
It was clear that Parry had become fond of the community. Allegations of of sexism, tax-dodging, violence, truantism and the various other complaints regularly directed at Travellers were either ignored or mentioned but not dwelt upon. There was clearly an attempt at balance in the documentary but in the end the impression was favourable.
It was hard to ignore the tense, aggressive atmosphere. “There’s going to be a lot of lives lost,” said Mimi Sheridan, referring to the stockpile of petrol and gas canisters they planned to use against the bailiffs when the time came. Indeed, many times we saw the Travellers correct themselves or backtrack when they commented on the violence they saw coming and what they wanted to do to the people who wanted them gone.
The whole programme led up to a big expected showdown between bailiffs and the Travellers of Dale Farm that never arrived as the deadline for the eviction is not until August. Why Parry chose to end his film early is not clear – perhaps he was overeager to get it on the television, or perhaps he had his own deadline. The result may be greater pressure on Basildon Council to reverse their decision. Either way we can be sure it won’t be pretty.
Friday 22 July 2011
The Big Gypsy Eviction, BBC One, review - Telegraph
via telegraph.co.uk
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