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TV review: The Secret Life of the Pub; Inside No 9

Two of the bar flies in The Secret Life of the Pub
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    Two of the bar flies in The Secret Life of the Pub

These men in the boozer talked of birth, copulation and death — though some of them seemed to be auditioning for Gogglebox

The Secret Life of the Pub
Channel 4
**

Inside No 9
BBC Two
***

At critics’ school, the first thing you learn is not to confuse form with content. You may not like the content of a programme but if the form of its presentation is perfect then five stars. As Henry James wrote, “We must grant the artist his subject, his idea, what the French call his donnée”. Yet sometimes an exception must be made. As James also wrote nothing ever takes the place of liking or not liking something. The Secret Life of the Pub I did not like.

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