Disfigurement

Channel 4 at its worst shows Hollyoaks omnibuses sandwiched between Wogan's Perfect Recall and Deal or No Deal. But at its best it flits into subject matters that few dare to dabble their toe in, and they do it with a creative zest. Big Brother has for a while been tediously dull, but it started out as a fascinating social experiment. As Big Brother staggers to its death watched by a surprisingly substantial audience (4 million for Tuesday's final), Channel 4 have grabbed the headlines once more with a new show that has divided opinions. The programme under attack, due for airing around the end of this year, is Beauty and the Beast. In it two people, one with a physical disfigurement and one obsessed with beauty share a house while those who are uninterested in Holby City or Corrie watch on.

This week, on a drive to collect my trousers from the dry-cleaners (which were closed) I listened to two people fiercely debating the shows morality. The attack was that it was another 'freak show' and that it would only damage those involved. The defence was that it would challenge people's assumptions and attitudes towards those with physical disfigurements. As the arguments went back and forth I found myself frustrated with the critic who seemed to view the people with disfigurements as weak people who would never be able to handle seeing themselves in a mirror. I was already feeling that the show had potential merit when Adam Pearson's name was dropped as someone who is working on the show. Adam is a friend of friends, someone I know well enough to be his friend on Facebook, but not any more than that. Adam has a facial disfigurement and his involvement in the programme filled me with a faith that this show is not out to exploit people, but to help to create an alternative way of seeing beauty. The Five Live defendant argued that the show would make the viewer see our obsession with beauty as the real beast. I hope it does. It's got to be better than using disfigurement as a symbol for inner evil as Freddy Krueger and the James Bond films do - there didn't seem to be much criticism of those film-makers.