{"id":385749,"date":"2026-04-07T04:15:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T04:15:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/385749\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T04:15:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T04:15:09","slug":"christopher-stevens-reviews-last-nights-tv-you-think-our-tv-is-bad-wait-until-you-see-whats-coming-from-china","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/385749\/","title":{"rendered":"CHRISTOPHER STEVENS reviews last night’s TV: You think our TV is bad? Wait until you see what’s coming from China"},"content":{"rendered":"

By CHRISTOPHER STEVENS, TV CRITIC<\/a> <\/p>\n

Published: 17:11 EDT, 6 April 2026 | Updated: 17:28 EDT, 6 April 2026 <\/p>\n

China with Ben Fogle (Channel 5)<\/p>\n

Rating:<\/p>\n

You might think a lot of TV is rubbish. But wait till you see what the Chinese have in store for us. It\u2019s going to make The Apprentice and\u00a0Celebs Go Dating<\/a> look like high art.<\/p>\n

The nation that gave the world TikTok<\/a>\u2019s inane dance crazes is now pioneering the \u2018microdrama\u2019 \u2014 soap opera served in 50 or 100 episodes, each no more than two minutes long.<\/p>\n

Microdrama is designed to be viewed on phone screens, so the scenes are crowded and static. Characters stand nose to nose, acting out superheated emotions, with every episode ending on a cliffhanger.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s as subtle as a megaphone in the face, where the only type of acting is over-acting. I have an exceptionally high tolerance level for TV drivel, but half a dozen doses of microdrama would send me howling over the edge.<\/p>\n

China<\/a> With Ben Fogle saw the short-trousered traveller try out for microdrama stardom as he visited the Hengdian world studios, south of Shanghai. With a long black wig superglued to his bonce, he played an ancient warrior whose mission was to defeat the villain and rescue the girl.<\/p>\n

Who was this girl? How did she come to be in the villain\u2019s clutches? We\u2019ll never know, because microdrama doesn\u2019t have time for Oscar-bothering nonsense like narrative or characterisation.<\/p>\n

\u2018Leave the girl alone!\u2019 roared Ben, wagging his finger in the scoundrel\u2019s face. A henchman leapt at him, but our hero blocked the blow with his sword arm and sent his attacker flying. A brawl ensued. And that was it.<\/p>\n

Apparently, the Chinese have streamed six billion microdrama episodes in the past couple of years. It\u2019s the future of entertainment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"China <\/p>\n

China With Ben Fogle saw the short-trousered traveller try out for microdrama stardom as he visited the Hengdian world studios, south of Shanghai\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Fogle <\/p>\n

Fogle (pictured in Shanghai) baulked at the shadow of state censorship that loomed everywhere in China<\/p>\n

Ben was plainly as baffled by it as I am. He preferred the traditional arts, though even in a country as steeped in the past as China, these are dying out.<\/p>\n

On the sixth floor of an office block in Shanghai, he discovered a makeshift opera theatre where the cast outnumbered the audience. Instead of selling tickets, the performers, aged 50 to 90, encouraged the audience to give them tips in the middle of songs.<\/p>\n

Everyone chainsmoked, sharing their cigarettes, and though Ben praised the show, he couldn\u2019t hide his anxiety to escape from the fug. He was far more at ease on an electric moped, joining a delivery driver in a downpour as they shuttled 300 parcels around the city.<\/p>\n

Unlike most travel presenters, Ben doesn\u2019t really want to know what people do for amusement. He\u2019s far more interested in their work and how they earn a living.<\/p>\n

He baulked too at the shadow of state censorship that loomed everywhere. Chinese smartphones refused to supply answers to some of his questions. \u2018AI with built-in ideology,\u2019 he commented. At the film studios, he asked an actor if any subjects were unsuitable for microdramas. \u2018Politics,\u2019 the man gulped, and his face blanched.<\/p>\n

Share or comment on this article:
\n CHRISTOPHER STEVENS reviews last night’s TV: You think our TV is bad? Wait until you see what’s coming from China<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By CHRISTOPHER STEVENS, TV CRITIC Published: 17:11 EDT, 6 April 2026 | Updated: 17:28 EDT, 6 April 2026…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":385750,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[1793,114,539,93,61,60,23321,6116,282],"class_list":{"0":"post-385749","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-celebs-go-dating","9":"tag-china","10":"tag-dailymail","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-ie","13":"tag-ireland","14":"tag-the-apprentice","15":"tag-tiktok","16":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385749","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=385749"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385749\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/385750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=385749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=385749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=385749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}