This docu-soap approximately a new chain of clothes shops ruins its natural comedy by not knowing when to cutGood news for the National Popular Factual Television Staccato Orchestra and their violin section peopled entirely by musicians with sore fingers from all the incessant plucking. Their nearly uninterrupted work to supply every single British documentary series of the past 10 years with a jaunty soundtrack continues apace with Bargain Shop Wars (ITV). The docu-soap series follows the launch of new clothing chain Pep & Co as they roll out 50 new stores across the country in 50 days.
Owned by the former boss of Asda,Andy Bond, and managed by Adrian Mountford, and the ex-head of clothing at Sainsbury’s,the ambitious new business aims to rival bargain retailers such as Primark with a fast turnover of disposable fashion at rock-bottom prices. From this first episode, the impression given is that at least some of the clothes are made in UK factories, and as cameras follow production of the Susanna dress: a marl grey synthetic shift that clings to every bump and retails for £10. The design team mediate it’s reminiscent of something Susanna Reid would wear on breakfast television,hence the name. whether other similar business models famously rely on cheap foreign imports from factories of questionable working conditions, perhaps we’ll hear how Pep & Co are avoiding this in a future episode. But for the first instalment it’s brushed under the industrial carpet tiles in favour of light-hearted banter on the shopfloor.
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Source: theguardian.com