Goldplated (another rant...)
By bitingmylip
Do not adjust your TV sets.
10pm. Wednesdays. Channel 4. ‘Goldplated’ – a new TV show set in the “golden triangle” of Wilmslow, Prestbury and Alderley Edge – claims to “lift the lid on a world of conspicuous consumption in which wealth – or at least the appearance of it is everything.”
Except it’ll be nothing more than a load of cheap gags at the expense of the North West’s small minority of noueveau riche Porsche owning ladies (and gentlemen) that lunch.
I grew up in this golden triangle. I lived in Alderley Edge – my parents still do – and I went to school in Wilmslow. Of Prestbury, I can offer no opinion, but I would hazard a guess that it is a similar mix of the rich and the not so rich, just like Wilmslow, just like Alderley Edge, just like the majority of nice suburbs up and down the country.
Admittedly I have not yet seen ‘Goldplated,’ but the adverts suggest it is all champagne, cocaine and no rain, and I’ve seen my hometown slurred before – most notably in a Sunday Times article by those paragons of snobbery AA Gill and Jeremy Clarkson. I’ve heard Alderley Edge described as “the champagne capital of the North.” I did once see David Beckham in a petrol station and the guy who plays Ken Barlow in ‘Coronation Street’ used to send his son to the private school near my house, but much as I hate to admit it, these aren’t common occurrences and I think it’s time I defended the place I grew up in against those who would see it derided as a society of money-grabbing, plastic surgery-obsessed, fame-hungry wannabes. There might be one or two of these creatures lurking in the big houses on the outskirts of each town. But they’re not common. And in fact, the golden triangle does do common. Like most towns we have our share of hoodie’d teenagers and lager louts.
None of my friends have ever taken cocaine and I’ve never ordered champagne in any bar in the vicinity. There are in fact only 2 or 3 bars in Alderley Edge and I tend to stick to my vodka and orange when out in Wilmslow’s very own Yates’s. Both towns have council estates and posher estates, nice shops and nasty multi-storey car- parks, private schools and free ones.
I do understand where this leafy area of Cheshire gets its reputation. Lots of Manchester United and City players have lived there as well as Coronation Street actors and Hollyoaks ‘stars’. And I will admit, there are a few of these plastic surgery-obsessed and new monied people lurking around. One such woman springs to mind – her name is Dee and she used to drive around in a canary yellow Porsche with a personalised number plate. She was forever in the local paper for her various exploits (plastic surgery, divorce, being on some TV documentary about wannabes…)
But she was only well known because she’s a freak. It’s not the norm to be like that anywhere, not even in Alderley Edge. So what I don’t understand is why this town, with its parade of shops and pretty scenery – this town I grew up in and still love going back to – why does it keep getting portrayed like this? It’s not LA, for god’s sake. And it’s near Manchester. Not only have I never seen cocaine there, or drunk champagne there, but it does rain there. A lot.
Do not adjust your TV sets.
10pm. Wednesdays. Channel 4. ‘Goldplated’ – a new TV show set in the “golden triangle” of Wilmslow, Prestbury and Alderley Edge – claims to “lift the lid on a world of conspicuous consumption in which wealth – or at least the appearance of it is everything.”
Except it’ll be nothing more than a load of cheap gags at the expense of the North West’s small minority of noueveau riche Porsche owning ladies (and gentlemen) that lunch.
I grew up in this golden triangle. I lived in Alderley Edge – my parents still do – and I went to school in Wilmslow. Of Prestbury, I can offer no opinion, but I would hazard a guess that it is a similar mix of the rich and the not so rich, just like Wilmslow, just like Alderley Edge, just like the majority of nice suburbs up and down the country.
Admittedly I have not yet seen ‘Goldplated,’ but the adverts suggest it is all champagne, cocaine and no rain, and I’ve seen my hometown slurred before – most notably in a Sunday Times article by those paragons of snobbery AA Gill and Jeremy Clarkson. I’ve heard Alderley Edge described as “the champagne capital of the North.” I did once see David Beckham in a petrol station and the guy who plays Ken Barlow in ‘Coronation Street’ used to send his son to the private school near my house, but much as I hate to admit it, these aren’t common occurrences and I think it’s time I defended the place I grew up in against those who would see it derided as a society of money-grabbing, plastic surgery-obsessed, fame-hungry wannabes. There might be one or two of these creatures lurking in the big houses on the outskirts of each town. But they’re not common. And in fact, the golden triangle does do common. Like most towns we have our share of hoodie’d teenagers and lager louts.
None of my friends have ever taken cocaine and I’ve never ordered champagne in any bar in the vicinity. There are in fact only 2 or 3 bars in Alderley Edge and I tend to stick to my vodka and orange when out in Wilmslow’s very own Yates’s. Both towns have council estates and posher estates, nice shops and nasty multi-storey car- parks, private schools and free ones.
I do understand where this leafy area of Cheshire gets its reputation. Lots of Manchester United and City players have lived there as well as Coronation Street actors and Hollyoaks ‘stars’. And I will admit, there are a few of these plastic surgery-obsessed and new monied people lurking around. One such woman springs to mind – her name is Dee and she used to drive around in a canary yellow Porsche with a personalised number plate. She was forever in the local paper for her various exploits (plastic surgery, divorce, being on some TV documentary about wannabes…)
But she was only well known because she’s a freak. It’s not the norm to be like that anywhere, not even in Alderley Edge. So what I don’t understand is why this town, with its parade of shops and pretty scenery – this town I grew up in and still love going back to – why does it keep getting portrayed like this? It’s not LA, for god’s sake. And it’s near Manchester. Not only have I never seen cocaine there, or drunk champagne there, but it does rain there. A lot.
posted by bitingmylip at 9:40 AM
1 Comments:
Nicely said, sis! Did you watch it in the end? I missed it, though was curious to catch a bit. (In all seriousness and on a more literary take: I think this 'piece' is actually very well-written.)
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