Edition 100
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Friday, January 18, 2013
TRIAL BY FURY TVchief hits back in El Raso ‘council estate’ row EXCLUSIVE by DONNA GEE
THE WILD SIDE
THE director of a controversial ITV1 documentary in which El Raso was jokingly described as ‘council estate in the sun’ has defended the negativity which left local residents and business chiefs fuming.
DEBORAH LOVETT, who directed ITV’s ‘Trouble Abroad’ series for Wild Pictures, gives her side of the argument
In an exclusive statement to The Courier, Deborah Lovett of Wild Pictures insisted the comment was made ‘‘in the context of how living on the complex was like living in Britain and that you would not know that you were in Spain’’. The documentary, ‘Trouble Abroad’, followed the fortunes – or the misfortunes – of expats in Spain, France and the USA. One of the people featured was Rayz Bar tenant Claire Tyson (pictured), who agreed to participate believing the programme would be looking at the positive side of living abroad. But the end product, shown on primetime TV last Thursday, painted a picture of gloom and doom – and reinforced the ‘council estate’ wisecrack with shots of empty streets and a torn canopy fluttering. Furious residents contacted ITV to complain, while directors of the two property companies at El Raso insisted the urbanisation remained one of the most desirable in the region among
home hunters. But Ms Lovett, who directed the twodocumentary series, sees it differently. “When I walked around I did see many empty commercial properties, including the bar next to Claire,’’ she wrote. “I do not dispute that it (El Raso) may still be one of the most desirable places to live and that local sales may be better than elsewhere, but it has, like all of Spain, felt the impact of the recession.’’ The section of ‘Trouble Abroad’ about Claire Tyson was recorded by Wild Pictures for ITV over a nine-day period, during which she was constantly followed by cameras. The Courier understands she was not paid for appearing. A couple of months later, Claire walked out of Rayz suddenly and flew home to her native Essex, where she told a local newspaper recently: “I left
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THE documentary was looking at how Claire had been affected by and was trying to survive the recession in Spain, which was severe: Unemployment rate of 25% (The Daily Mail and The Guardian). 2 million unsold properties.. house prices dropped 31% since financial crisis of 2008 (The Guardian). Claire herself talks about the impact of the recession on the urbanisation: “Go back 5-6 years and it was a buzzing urbanisation, and I’ve watched it in the five years turn completely the other way”. When I walked around I did see many empty commercial properties, including the bar next to Claire. I do not dispute that it may still be one of the most desirable places to live and that local sales may be better than elsewhere, but it has, like all of Spain felt the impact of the recession. ‘The End Of The Dream’ (The Guardian) backs up Claire’s observations and mentions El Raso as one of the places that the British ex-pats left in the recession. The estate agent you mentioned in your email say themselves on their website that “2012
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