All White in Barking BBC2 14 March 9pm

[Amethyst_Isle]

BBC Two Friday 14 March 9pm

This should interesting tonight...........

" Filmmaker Marc Isaacs' funny and illuminating documentary gives a voice to people who feel that they are at the sharp end of multicultural Britain. Take a trip to the London borough of Barking and Dagenham, an area which has some of the highest levels of immigration in the country and where residents are struggling to come to terms with their new arrivals.

There we meet life-long residents Susan and Jeff who are encouraged to put their assumptions aside to welcome their new Nigerian neighbours. There's also Dave whose anger at the influx of immigrants has led him to campaign for the far right British Nationalist Party - despite both his daughters having non-white boyfriends. Meanwhile, Holocaust survivor Monty and African Betty form a close friendship, despite disapproving stares.

In this Storyville, Isaacs' gentle probing of these very different characters helps to paint a vivid picture of the attitudes and preconceptions at the heart of Modern Britain".

[Moor Larkin]

Sounds a bit more constructive than much of the rest, which I haven't watched.

[DB7]

Wasn't quite as controversial as I'd expected and the BNP aspect barely got a look in. Just old people uncomfortable with changing times showing their prejudice and ignorance - especially the Dave the BNP campaigner who seemed blissfully unaware of the origins of his daughter's boyfriend.

[Steve Crook]

The interviewer seemed to by trying to stir up a controversy which wasn't really there. Apart from the BNP bloke, everyone else, when pressed hard, said they would rather live amongst people like themselves but by that they often just meant similar sorts of people, not necessarily of the same colour or nationality. But in reality, most of them seem to get on very well.

I did like the bit where the BNP bloke was standing out in the street at night, pointing out the nationality of each household around him. "A few years back, they were all English". Then he was asked how long he'd been living in that house and the answer was "a few years". So maybe all his English neighbours moved out soon after he moved in and they saw what he was like

Steve

[michaelswings]

Gosh !! i thought it was a sit com since most of the people had me falling off my chair
I love the guy talking with a fag in his mouth either he was a chain smoker or it was a new sort of brand that never burns away ;and then there was the guy who didnt know who the little half cast boy was either or but the little boy was looking at the cam as if too say 'i hope i dont grow up like these dumb twits ..

[Moor Larkin]

Originally Posted by DB7 the BNP aspect barely got a look in.

I liked the sequences where the BNP desk was on the street and all the non-'white' people were walking past, glanced and chose to ignore it. How much more 'British' can you get?......................

It got even queerer when the young female relative of the old Essex geezer came along with her clearly (to my eyes) mixed-race boyfriend....... And the old chap passed him one of their magazines to look through......... ..... ...... I got the definite impression that the Essex geezer was more bothered about 'cultural' or menu differences, than the colour of anyones skin.

Brilliant television. The sort of thing old Ray Gosling would have done, I reckon.