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From Cathy Come Home to Shameless: how UK TV explains the cost of living crisis
Whether it’s provocative plays and astute sitcoms, or property porn and undercover docs, the small screen has never shied away from showing life at the sharp end – even if it doesn’t always get it right
Five years ago, a 20-year-old motorcycle courier called Jerome Rogers killed himself shortly after bailiffs clamped his bike. Rogers was being pursued over two £65 parking fines that had escalated to a £1,019 debt. Without his bike, Rogers could not do his job, which included delivering blood to hospitals, nor pay what he owed. A year later, the Bafta-winning factual drama Killed By My Debt (still available on BBC iPlayer) poignantly dramatised Jerome’s life and death.
British television has never shied away from depicting poverty, debt and homelessness. From Ken Loach’s 1966 classic Cathy Come Home to recent documentaries such as Living in Poverty by Professor Green, TV has shown us for decades what poverty means. These are salutary and chastening reminders as we stand on the precipice of a cost-of-living crisis.
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