Hamish and Andy’s True Stories,
Channel Nine, Monday, 7.30pm
As John Lennon once said, everyone has their own little story.
As a journalist you quickly learn that this is not only true, it’s also often quite surprising (like the time I discovered my neighbour, a suburban housewife, really had once run away and joined a circus to become a trapeze artist – but that’s another story).
Radio and television personalities Hamish and Andy, complete with matching velvet jackets, have not only discovered this but they’ve brought it to the small screen – real everyday Australians telling real stories (with a little help from well-known actors for some impressive re-enactments). The stories are supposed to be funny, though the first one was more squirmingly embarrassing with moments of humour.
The dynamic duo, who are pretty good at spinning a tale or two themselves, interview the storyteller and then it cuts to the re-enactment. This is not high-class, scripted television but it’s a lot of fun, particularly given the storytellers are pretty candid with what they divulge.
And while it won’t be everyone’s cup of tea and might miss the mark here and there, it is something that hasn’t been tried for a while – something different, fresh and original and not a copy of a show made somewhere else in the world and there is no cook/singer/home renovator trying to win anything.
It is just people telling their funny stories for the rest of us to cringe and enjoy in a very Australian way. Our voices, without all the usual hoopla – who knew commercial networks could still do that!
– Tania Phillips
