No Better Than They Ought To Be

Slingback Pencilcase first came to public attention as the world’s first celebrity Rodent Disconcerter on the C4 ‘reality’ programme People Who Are No Better Than They Ought To Be, a programme that purported to be an in-depth investigation into the cleanliness standards of some of the more hygienically-dubious people of this country. The programme, however, instead turned out to be a must-watch for those who like to tut, sigh, and shake their heads at the slovenly habits of those who seem to spend their entire lives eating cold food out of cans whilst sitting in their rather grotty underwear in front of a constantly-on hyper massive TV set: i.e. people not all that far removed from the programme’s intended audience.

However, as the makers of this type of ‘reality’ programme discovered, even these programmes need the stereotypical good guys and bad guys that once populated the simplistic dramas that this new type of ‘reality’ programme eventually replaced in the schedules.

Some of the earliest ‘reality’ programmes were even built around the cold heartless villain who in days of yore would be tying helpless victims to railway lines, but these days callously votes off the less heart-warmingly photogenic of the contestants on ‘talent’ shows, whilst the heroes of these types of programme, like Slingback Pencilcase went out – armed in her case with only a mouse trap and a large bloodied mallet – to do battle - if only symbolically against the increasing yobification of this once great mediocre quite nice all-right-I-suppose nation.