Meet the Ukippers

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Meet the Ukippers
GenreDocumentary
Directed byKevin Hull
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of episodes1
Production
Executive producerDarren Kemp
ProducerKevin Hull
Running time47:34
Original release
NetworkBBC Two
Release22 February 2015 (2015-02-22)

Meet the Ukippers is a British documentary that first aired on

MP
. While some attempted to explain UKIP's message, others were seen to express controversial opinions about race and immigration. Prior to its broadcast, some of the film's content led to one UKIP councillor being expelled from the party after she referred to black people as "negros". The film received generally positive reviews, with favourable comparisons drawn with a docudrama aired the previous week that had offered a fictitious account of Britain's first UKIP government. Meet the Ukippers attracted an audience of 1.42 million, giving BBC Two their best ratings for a factual programme broadcast in the 10.00pm Sunday evening slot since 2012.

Synopsis

The film follows the fortunes of Liz Langton, a hotel owner with a collection of porcelain clowns who was briefly UKIP's press officer in South Thanet, the constituency that selected Farage to fight the 2015 general election. It is 2014, and UKIP are enjoying a surge in popularity as Langton is seen attempting to deal with a series of public relations disasters that threaten to harm its public image. These include a remark made by

National Front. Langton brushes off both of these instances as minor follies, but is soon dealing with another PR catastrophe after a conversation with UKIP councillor Rozanne Duncan in which Duncan discusses her dislike of "Negros" and "people with Negroid features". She is advised to "tone it down a bit", but when details of her views are leaked to the media, Duncan is expelled from UKIP. Langton is seen to become increasingly disillusioned with the views of UKIP's members and eventually resigns from her post.[1][2]

Reception

The film received generally positive reviews, although several critics expressed their concern about the nature of its content. Describing the documentary as "riveting", Iona McLaren of

Little Britain".[2]

Viewership

Meet the Ukippers aired in the 10.00pm time slot, with overnight viewing figures suggesting it to have been the most watched BBC Two factual programme shown at that time on a Sunday evening since

Louis Theroux: Twilight of the Pornstars aired in June 2012. Meet the Ukippers attained an audience of 1.42 million (an 8.5% audience share) compared with Theroux's documentary, which had achieved a viewership of 1.8 million (9.4%).[4]

Controversy

Shortly before the documentary was aired, Rozanne Duncan said that she had no regrets about her comments, and attempted to defend them by claiming that her use of the word

African-Caribbean people live.[7]

Addressing the issue on the 22 February edition of BBC Radio 4's Broadcasting House, Nigel Farage said that the party had been right to expel her: "Clearly she doesn't have any understanding of the deep offence she has caused by her comments, and we took the right decision."[5]

Soul singer Beverley Knight was subjected to racial abuse by a user on social media site Twitter after she posted tweets expressing her disgust at the comments made by Duncan.[8]

References

  1. ^ a b c McLaren, Iona (23 February 2015). "Meet the Ukippers, review: 'riveting'". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
  2. ^ a b Hyland, Ian (23 February 2015). "Meet the Ukippers reveals a circus full of the freaks of casual racism". Daily Mirror. Trinity Mirror. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
  3. ^ Groskop, Viv (23 February 2015). "Beware people who own porcelain clowns". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
  4. ^ Plunkett, John (23 February 2015). "Ukip delivers for BBC2 as Casual Vacancy and Indian Summers slip". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
  5. ^ a b "Ex-UKIP councillor Rozanne Duncan: 'No regrets' over comments". BBC News. BBC. 22 February 2015. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
  6. ^ Datoo, Siraj (22 February 2015). "Watch This Ex-UKIP Councillor Say She Has A Problem With People Who Have "Negroid Features"". BuzzFeed News. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
  7. ^ "Ex-Ukip Cllr: I Don't Want To Look At Black People". LBC. 23 February 2015. Archived from the original on 25 February 2015. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
  8. ^ Richardson, Andy (23 February 2015). "Meet the Ukippers: Beverley Knight hits back at racist posts she received after tweeting about BBC documentary". Birmingham Mail. Trinity Mirror. Retrieved 24 February 2015.

External links

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