Channel 4's fascination with travellers?

Knuckle was shown on BBC4 last week

CB19Kevo wrote: »

What's with Channel 4 showing so many programs about Irish traveller's.
There's no culture being shown.
Its just projecting a negative light of traveller's and this country.

This country?

All of the travellers in the show are travellers in England.

CB19Kevo wrote: »

Based in England but many were born in Ireland or are regular back and would consider themselves Irish travellers.

If you think that a C4 show showing gypsy travellers who live in England, some of which describe themselves as "Irish" is a reflection of Republic of Ireland as a country then i'm surprised you had the mental capacity to even type the words to start this thread!

Galwayguy35 wrote: »

Nope, it's just showing them as they are.
And I should know as I see them every day.

I've had hundreds of run-ins with travellers in my day job, not just seeing them, actually having to deal with them regularly. And I remember in Henry McKean's documentary, 'The Truth About Travellers', where one spoke of how the way society treated them brought the knacker out in them. There's something in that.

I'll also say, categorically, that the mass majority of travellers I've dealt with haven't caused any trouble whatsoever. Some are absolute scum but it's legitimate that some bad eggs ruin it for the rest. Others also are provoked into causing trouble, as mentioned above.

In all the traveller shows they have, they never seem to show the men out working. I'd love if they let a camera crew follow a group of lads going doing peoples driveways and gutters.

Cienciano wrote: »

In all the traveller shows they have, they never seem to show the men out working. I'd love if they let a camera crew follow a group of lads going doing peoples driveways and gutters.

You might be waiting a while for that film footage.

I too deal with them on a regular basis, they have no respect for anyone not even themselves. The vast majority are involved in crime and that includes women and children. They whine about their culture but in reality they have no culture, their culture died years ago with older travelers who were tradespeople and travelled from town to town and earned their living. The travelers of today travelled about and thieve, rob and cause trouble in the vast majority of cases.
There are some very decent travelers but they are few and far between.
If they willingly subject themselves to ridicule by appearing on C4 programmes, then who cares?
And lastly, travelers were once the poorest in society, that has now reversed, they are extremely well off, they pay for nothing, get all sorts of hand outs and yet still cry about being disadvantaged and poor. There isno such thing as a poor traveller anymore, naturally they'll not tell you or me that but how many law abiding citizens do you know of that can change their cars/vans every few years and buy them outright for cash? I certainly can't.

dd972 wrote: »

As if the English don't have enough chavs, white trash or romani gypsys of their own to make tv series about

Irish travellers are in abundance in soft touch Britain because they can pull the sort of stunts that they wouldn't get away with in a small country like Ireland. It gets on your nerves when the British regard them as rank and file Irish which they are not.

What makes you think they're not? Because they live in England ?

It's standard Barnum principle. They'll find a new 'freak' show and move on to that soon. and yes, i have heard some English refer to the travellers as Irish, irrespective of their accents or birth place. and like any group, there's good n bad, in exactly the same proportions. the only major diff is levels of education amongst travellers, which is lower than average (AFAI remember) and so might incline some of them to be televised in this manner. but then again, those 'Real Dublin Wives' or whatever it was called, have no fuking excuse.