Eurotrash (1993 - 2004)

 

"A Great Big Package of Brightly Coloured Trashy Nostalgia"

By 1990 Channel 4 had worked out that, rather than a subtitled art film or even something with a little red triangle in the top right hand corner to indicate 'special discretion advised', what the post-pub Friday night crowd really wanted more than anything was brightly coloured soundbite-sized doses of lurid and frequently titillating material. Initially this was achieved with Charlie Parsons' frequently embarrassing 'The Word'. A couple of years later the rather better made, slightly more tasteful and infinitely more entertaining Eurotrash hit the screens.

Conceived by Peter Stuart, who oversaw the show during its entire run, and hosted by Antoine De Caunes (already known to UK audiences for the BBC2 series Rapido) and French fashion designer Jean-Paul Gaultier (who departed after the sixth series), Eurotrash was ostensibly a cultural magazine programme highlighting the more outré (ie entertaining) aspects of European culture. It lasted for eleven years and now it can be revisited in all its brightly coloured, brain-frying, taste-challenging glory as Network releases the entire run in a single, massive box set.

Watching it now, it's surprising to realise that, amongst the pieces on a man dressed as a smurf trying to get thrown out of Disneyland, the disastrous BBC TV soap 'Eldorado' scene recreators club and pubic hairdressers, you also get interviews with Paul Verhoeven (talking about BASIC INSTINCT and his next exciting and secret project which of course turned out to be SHOWGIRLS), Sylvia Kristel and Kim Newman talking about the EMMANUELLE films, a 22 year old Charlotte Gainsbourg  talking about THE CEMENT GARDEN, and Tinto Brass waxing lyrical on the female bottom. There are also decent pieces on Tom Of Finland, the Leningrad Cowboys and a well-observed piece on 'How to Watch a Jean-Luc Godard Film' followed by a profile of the late director's quite unbelievable KING LEAR. 

Of course it doesn't take long for the show to give the audience what it really wants, including regular appearances by bizarre personalities like Lolo Ferrari and Belgian singer Eddy Wally, regular items like 'Sit On Me' and stories on curious eccentrics like the man who hires out his buttocks to use as a bicycle stand.

Network's box set consists of 20 discs covering all 16 series. Not all were provided for review and it's not clear if the specials are included. There are no extras. 

Network are releasing the Eurotrash Box Set on DVD and on Digital on Monday 26th September 2022