Evans’s move to Virgin has changed little – and maybe that’s not such a good thing
Sun 27 Jan 2019 02.00 EST
Last modified on Mon 28 Jan 2019 09.39 EST
The Chris Evans Breakfast Show (Virgin) | virginradio.co.uk
A radio reviewer’s work is never done. So far, 2019 has just been new breakfast show after new breakfast show, and last week it was the turn of multimillionaire maniac grinner Chris Evans and his 6.30-10am new weekday show on Virgin. The publicity photos have Evans posing as though the past two decades never happened, pointing at his Virgin radio microphone with a multimillion-pound maniac grin.
Evans is an exceptionally good radio show host. Until he quit Radio 2 last month, he was the most popular radio DJ in the UK – well, the most listened-to – and it’s not hard to understand why. Upbeat, cheeky, smart and vastly experienced (he’s been presenting radio since 1984), the man is a relentless broadcasting fiend. We’re around the same age, and it’s hard for me to imagine life without Evans on the telly or on the radio, hooting, guffawing and banging on about posh cars and his kids like he’s up for an Olympic showing-off medal. Chris Evans is back! But he never really left, did he?
Anyway. This new show is really similar to his old one. He’s brought his Radio 2 production and presenting team with him (other than Moira Stewart, who’s getting a new show on Classic FM), so Rachel Horne is on travel, Vassos Alexander on sport, and the behind-the-scenes producers know how to get the best out of him. The jingles are the same. Cleverly, Virgin (now owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News UK) has got the whole show sponsored by Sky (which was part of Murdoch’s empire until last autumn). This means there are no annoying advert breaks, though they’ve been replaced by the slightly less annoying constant plugging of Sky telly by Evans.
Actually, Sky and the show are a good fit: Evans gets the star guests, Sky gets the exposure. And Evans manages the sponsorship connection pretty well. There’s an honesty about him that helps; while interviewing actor Genevieve O’Reilly, in to promote the second series of Tin Star (“Out on Sky”), he confessed to not having watched the whole of the first series, because a child was killed in the first episode and he didn’t want to watch after that.
Unsurprisingly, the music won’t scare the cat. It’s bland modern pop, with a good sprinkling of 90s-outlaws-turned-industry-stalwarts, such as Richard Ashcroft, who played live on the opening show. The live performances are expertly produced. On Thursday, Texas played in the studio and the sound was pin-perfect.
Afterwards, lead singer Sharleen Spiteri joined the other guests, TV traveller Simon Reeve, comedian Russell Howard and O’Reilly, and they all had a chat. Two of these people I actively lurve, and the other two seem great.
Still, it was during this all-celebs-together chinwag that I pinpointed what it is about Evans that grates – it’s how he patronises everyone, just a leetle bit. “Off you trot,” he said to Spiteri, when it was time for her to sing. “Oooh, look at you with your American-ness,” to Howard, who has a US tour booked. It’s a hangover from 70s and 80s Smashy-and-Nicey DJs, the ones who literally applaud interviewees for doing their jobs (Evans’s show does this) – and it’s familiar to anyone who has hung around a certain type of middle-aged man. They tell you they know exactly who you are (“Of course you’d do that!” said Evans to Spiteri); they pressurise you to conform to their good time (“You can leave if you want, but why not stay until 10?”: to all of his guests).
Everyone is boxed in with overfamiliarity; people are put on the spot to entertain: “Who has a story about Van Morrison?” All tiny things that mean that jovial, we’re-all-friends-here Evans owns everyone around him. Of course, he’s required to be in control, because he’s the presenter. But other presenters do this without making themselves top dog at all times.
Well. As the kids say, don’t @ me. I think Evans will do really well at his new job, and I think he deserves to. He’s like all the presenters on A League of Their Own rolled into one. You may well enjoy his show greatly. It’s not for me.
Annalisa Is Awkward
This delightful one-off programme explores awkwardness from the point of view of a disabled person. Annalisa Dinnella has a degenerative sight condition: she uses a white stick and regularly experiences other people’s embarrassment. She interviews comedian Jess Thom, who has Tourette syndrome. Thom points out that children aren’t awkward around disability – “toddlers think I’m doing it purely for their own amusement” – but adults teach them that disability is shameful. “Wheels are wicked, why are they good on buses and not for people [in wheelchairs]?” she asks.
Ouch: Disability Talk
Ouch has been broadcasting since 2006, so there are umpteen episodes to choose from, featuring previous presenters Mat Fraser, Liz Carr and newer ones Simon Minty and Kate Monaghan (the programme has plenty of guest presenters). Pick any programme, really, they’re all great, whether you fancy hearing about the trials and tribulations of comedian Tanyalee Davis, or about a cyclist who had a crash and forgot how to speak English. There are shows exploring life with Down’s syndrome, autism, depression, Crohn’s, almost anything you can think of. Recommended.
Disability After Dark
In which Andrew Gurza discusses sex and disability, no holds barred. A Canadian disability awareness consultant and – his words – “cripple content creator”, Gurza has been hosting his podcast since 2016. Sometimes his shows are just him talking; other times, he interviews other disabled people about their sexual preferences. It’s strong stuff, quite rightly, and the tone is conversational. Gurza wants to talk about all the stuff that others are too embarrassed to mention, and his generous, relaxed personality means that interviewees do just that.
This article was amended on 27 January 2019. Virgin Radio is owned by News UK not Sky as previously stated; and Sky is no longer owned by a Murdoch company: Fox sold its stake to ComCast in 2018.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2019/jan/27/chris-evans-breakfast-show-review
