On paper, Shark! Superstar Infested Waters sounds as if tv has advanced right into a extra excessive, extra harmful beast. When you suppose I’m A Superstar’s snakey, spidery hellholes are too tender on well-known individuals, get a mouthful of this. Seven well-known individuals, every with various levels of phobias about sharks, open water or each, will probably be thrown into the ocean, ie the pure habitat of sharks, these magnificent apex predators. May this be the best way Lenny Henry goes out?
Disappointingly, it seems to be much more sensational in idea than execution. The present is timed to mark the fiftieth anniversary of Jaws, the movie which cemented a concern of sharks within the imaginations of most people. The concept is to appropriate the report and regulate perceptions of a creature that has come to be seen as “public enemy primary”.
Anybody who sees that exclamation mark within the title and tunes in anticipating a high-stakes model of Splash!, the campy ITV actuality present by which the Olympian gold medallist Tom Daley taught a bejewelled Gemma Collins to dive off a not-very-lofty board, will probably be crushed. Shark! makes use of celebrities as a approach in to a sequence that’s actually about conservation. That could be why the celebrities are on the extra respectable aspect – none of your actuality TV alumni right here – and why it strikes at a sedate tempo, even when there’s a severe chance of comic Ross Noble getting his foot nibbled within the mangroves.
It’s troublesome to think about what first attracted the celebrities to the prospect of a TV present requiring an honest stint within the Bahamas. I can’t fairly put my finger on why they might join. Most are there to beat their fears, whereas one or two merely appear eager on the thought of an journey, and vaguely attain for a discomfort that they will overcome on telly. Becoming a member of Henry and Noble are Amandaland’s Lucy Punch, McFly’s Dougie Poynter, Paralympian and presenter Ade Adepitan, Countdown’s Rachel Riley and Helen George from Name the Midwife. Presumably Gemma Collins couldn’t discover a wetsuit sparkly sufficient.
George is the character to look at. She is anxious and visibly terrified earlier than she even dons her flippers, attributing what seems to be a debilitating concern of water to an incident in a swimming pool as a toddler. (Equally, Henry explains that he virtually drowned when he was in major faculty, making him a reluctant swimmer.) She is the one who could be voted for in each process in week one in all I’m a Superstar, and the concern she shows is so palpable that you would be able to’t assist however really feel for her. What she pushes herself to do, regardless of her terror, is extraordinary.
Finally, although, the sharks upstage the celebrities. No marvel they get high billing. It is a nature documentary by stealth, and a plea for respect for these historic fish. The Bahamas are the shark capital of the world, we’re advised. They’re a significant facet of the ocean’s ecosystem, and plenty of species are liable to extinction. The three consultants readily available to assist soothe the celebrities into the water are improbable, however my favorite is Paul, an ex-military Australian who misplaced a leg and a hand in a shark assault and subsequently devoted his life to the conservation of sharks. He describes the assault in gory element because the celebrities go quiet, however Paul is adamant that it’s shark extinction, not sharks themselves, that’s the actual hazard to humanity.
For a present about predators, Shark! is surprisingly calm, the progress gradual and as protected as it may well presumably be. There isn’t a voting off right here, says scientist Tristan, solely teamwork. They are going to “go on this journey collectively”. First, they decrease themselves into shark cages, in a dock frequented by bull sharks, that are quantity three on the listing of best-known species, behind tiger sharks and the mighty nice white. Pound for pound, bull sharks have the strongest chunk of any shark, which makes them an excellent starter species for the celebrities. Later, the celebrities feed stingrays, the cousins of sharks, then stand in a mangrove as lemon sharks swoop round their legs. One movie star asks in the event that they might be bitten. “Hopefully not,” says Tristan, which is much less reassuring than he thinks.
These experiences look great and transformative for the celebrities. For viewers, it might have the faint ring of trying by means of another person’s vacation movies and snaps if you don’t know them very properly. However as a mild corrective to the villainy of Jaws’ mechanical monster, and an alternate tackle the character documentary, that is fairly beautiful.
