Life Roulette was produced in 2005 and was a pilot reality show that never made it to its scheduled slot on prime-time TV. It can therefore be described as "The Lifeswap They Wouldn't Show". Make up your own mind as to why you think Granada TV and its parent company ITV did not allow it on your TV screens. It cost Granada TV a pretty penny to make and the only conditions under which the High family {on a dole budget} were prepared to do the show was if the production team could swap them with a family at the opposite end of the British economic ladder rather than pit two low budget families against one another. The production team complied due to their desire to have the High family involved.
The rich folk broke the rules set by the show. The rich guy even smuggled extra money in his shoes according to his house maid. The High family followed the rules. When Craig was seen to be ringing his mates because Andrew had rung his estate it was because the production crew had asked Craig to in order to see if they were ok. It was a set up in order to give the impression that both parties were prepared to go outside the remit of the program. They then filmed Craig from outside a window and put in the narration that he had decided to use the phone of his own free will. As ever the media and the capitalists did not follow their own edicts in their attempts to both win "the game" {for that is how they see it} and curry favour with Granada TV executives to try and get it on air by making both families look as bad as each other. Although a few dirty tricks were pulled by both those the Highs were pitted against and the production crew it still serves as a valuable indication that huge inequalities still exist in the UK. All in all the High family and their friends maintained an impeccability usually ignored by mainstream media in its attempts to demonize those on the bottom rung of the social ladder. 80 or so hours of footage was filmed but only 47 minutes made the final edit. To read Craig's assessment of his and Kiran's experience go to www.highpanch.org.uk/lifeswap
"Surrounded by corpses stuck on the walls,
Blind eyes staring at polo balls,
Soulless cadavers, woodland prey,
Ritual slaughter, play for today,
Subservient slave, mass animal grave,
But they've got a chopper so they can look down,
On those with far less in woodland & town,
But up in that “bird”, feeling absurd,
A worrying thought suddenly occurred,
The Vale of York stretched away far below,
Emptied of trees & leafy meadow,
Arid & flat it seemed to me,
A potential desert, not one single tree,
The few that are left are sprinkled about,
The planet's lungs stripped before it could shout,
Enclosed land obsession, Albion's recession,
No leafy vale allowed to prevail,
Nowhere for Robin to hide,
Nowhere for his hoodies to reside,
Roads & flat fields have demystified,
The ravishing beauty of the old countryside,
Bought off land, real estate,
The paymaster's brand,
On his industrial estate,
One thousand one hundred acres are owned,
In a country where some are not properly homed,
Like pigeons astray, frightened & lost,
Sitting duck prey, shot at what cost,
The skies have been cleared of birds, bees & clouds,
The sun beating down on lifeless old shrouds."
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