For those who feel their 15 minutes of fame have eluded them for too long, a tempting offer arrives from television documentary makers Zig Zag Productions. It is looking for teachers to take part in “a new eight-part reality series for ITV in which underachieving and misbehaving teenagers will be given a new set of rules by a tough talking no-nonsense mentor”.
Zig Zag director Sue McGregor tells us the show will “involve dramatic transformations, lots of laughs and plenty of emotion”.
Unfortunately, that is all she will tell us. When the Diary rang up to find out more, Sue came over all coy. “The show is only an idea that is in the very earliest of stages with ITV so there isn’t really much else to say at the moment.”
Of course, Zig Zag may have serious intent, but the Diary can’t help recalling education’s previous run-ins with the reality genre. Anybody for the humiliations of Head on the Block, the documentary about the Islington arts and media school?
A bit of research offers a rundown of some of Zig Zag’s other high-quality shows. They include Inside Spearmint Rhino (“2,000 beautiful girls in hardly any clobber at all I metal poles, 7-inch heels, a bump and grind soundtrack”, the website pants), Ugly (about a model agency for giants, dwarfs, sumo wrestlers and old duffers) and DIY Surgery (people who chop bits off themselves). Don’t say you haven’t been warned but those still determined to grab the limelight can ring Zig Zag on 0207 017 8755.
