is Channel 4's latest week-long attempt to attract viewers. It's a bedtime reality show that's not quite Big Brother, a 'scientific experiment' presided over by Professor Dermot O'Leary. Twelve human lab rats are attempting to go without sleep for a week in an attempt to win lots of money. Hopefully none of the twelve are taking part merely to become famous, because the rest of the media appear to be yawning almost as much as the contestants. Even the Sun newspaper appears disinterested, which is odd given that both the Sun and Shattered are both produced nextdoor to each other in the same street in East London.
Pennington Street is a dark oppressive road in Wapping, deep in the heart of the old London docks. A high 19th century brick wall runs for a quarter of a mile along most of one side of the road, blocking out the light. And behind this sheer wall lies
Rupert Murdoch's huge News International printing plant, dominating the entire length of the street. It's very big, it's very long, it's very modern, and it looks very out of place. Lorries sweep out of the building down futuristic tubes and journos patronise the nearby wine bars. Somewhere deep inside, presumably, tomorrow's Page 3 girl is being touched up.
The rest of Pennington Street is lined by tall ex-warehouses. One of these, at the eastern end of the street, was built in 1814 for the storage of imported tobacco. Local manufacturers turned these brown leaves into cigars, pipe tobacco, cigarettes and snuff for the gentlemen of 19th century London. The building is still most impressive, from the inside if not from the outside, blessed with bricklined vaults, great timber roof trusses and cast iron fittings. In 1992 the warehouse was renovated and re-opened as the exclusive Tobacco Dockshopping centre, complete with two full-size pirate ships. Unfortunately the shops were too far from the tourist trail, and too pricey for the locals, so Tobacco Dock soon closed down. The site has been vacant for years, but is still occasionally used as a venue for swish celeb parties (PR events for the launches of Harry Potter, Moulin Rouge and Lord of the Rings, for example).
But, this week, Tobacco Dock has awoken from its slumber to host the filming of Shattered. Or, as I discovered at 6pm yesterday, 'shuttered'. The whole place was locked up, with nothing to be seen but a laminated sign on the gate awaiting the arrival of tonight's studio audience. Despite an advert on a nearby bus stop urging the public to , nobody else was around. My audience of one slipped away into the night. I hope the programme is faring better.
is Channel 4's latest week-long attempt to attract viewers. It's a bedtime reality show that's not quite Big Brother, a 'scientific experiment' presided over by Professor Dermot O'Leary. Twelve human lab rats are attempting to go without sleep for a week in an attempt to win lots of money. Hopefully none of the twelve are taking part merely to become famous, because the rest of the media appear to be yawning almost as much as the contestants. Even the Sun newspaper appears disinterested, which is odd given that both the Sun and Shattered are both produced nextdoor to each other in the same street in East London.
The rest of Pennington Street is lined by tall ex-warehouses. One of these, at the eastern end of the street, was built in 1814 for the storage of imported tobacco. Local manufacturers turned these brown leaves into cigars, pipe tobacco, cigarettes and snuff for the gentlemen of 19th century London. The building is still most impressive, from the inside if not from the outside, blessed with bricklined vaults, great timber roof trusses and cast iron fittings. In 1992 the warehouse was renovated and re-opened as the exclusive Tobacco Dock shopping centre, complete with two full-size pirate ships. Unfortunately the shops were too far from the tourist trail, and too pricey for the locals, so Tobacco Dock soon closed down. The site has been vacant for years, but is still occasionally used as a venue for swish celeb parties (PR events for the launches of Harry Potter, Moulin Rouge and Lord of the Rings, for example).
, nobody else was around. My audience of one slipped away into the night. I hope the programme is faring better.
