George Clarke's National Trust Unlocked (2020– ) User Reviews

Precious, moving, heartbreaking, determined, of one piece with the bulldog or Dunkirk spirit

[jrarichards · 10/10 · 16 October 2021]

British TV once had a certain reputation for "taping over" and therefore losing certain historically important or interesting items. Hopefully things are safer now, because this series needs to go straight to the archives to be kept safe. There is a delicate balance at work here. First of all George Clarke in and of himself balances the "cheerie chappie" with the "expert" with the "amateur Brit" and with the "moments of profound wisdom sage". But here he visits National Trust properties (about equally indoor and outdoor, and about equally breathtaking and more eccentric), to meet the skeleton staff who look afer them. Why so? Because everybody else is locked down, and nobody is visiting, nobody much is even walking in the open spaces, because even that is forbidden at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Here we find the main tension. Are we jealous of Clarke for going where we cannot? Do we resent him for his good fortune? Do we resent the National Trust for getting some free advertising (and guaranteed future income) from the programme? Not really! Rather, we accept that - for this time at least (until as Her Majesty put it in her outstanding pandemic broadcast "we will meet again"), George is us, representing us, taking his camera as our eyes. Of course there is nostalgia, longing, heartache and a moist eye as we watch. But he is almost like the astronaut or the first person venturing back into a disaster zone. He serves as our eyes and ears, but he takes our hearts and souls with him - to places familiar and loved. It's absolutely special, our beautiful country has never looked more so, and - while this doubtless raised the spirits and calmed the frustration of millions at home, it also offered salvation to thousands of Brits abroad (including myself - whose last return home was in late August 2019, and - for me at least, things are still not safe enough to go). A very precious programme indeed, nicely timed, perfectly pitched and a historical monument in and of itself...