When Louis Met... The Hamiltons (2001) Reviews

• Louis is given a perfect subject on a plate but deals with it with kid gloves

  bob the moo2002-03-28

  Louis spends time with Neil and Christine Hamilton – the disgraced politicians who appear to live off publicity. However two days into his documentary Neil and Christine are arrested and charged with sexual abuse, Louis follows them through this and talks about their life in general. Louis had a good pick here and suddenly finds himself in the middle of the biggest UK sex scandal of the year. However he doesn't know what to do with it and finds himself swallowed by bigger events. In fact it seems to make him go even softer on them and doesn't push on as much as you'd think. He allows them to dodge difficult question (where does their money come from? Is it all newspaper stories), and to stage manage some things (Christine going up to Louis's room to kiss him goodnight when he's asleep). In fact Louis even says he feels like their child at one point. However this takes away from the exposing nature of his relationship. Needless to say it is still fascinating viewing, especially to see the story from the inside. Neil and Christine come over as very middleclass and smug – very irritating. It's easy to believe they didn't rape a girl as part of an orgy (as they were accused) but you dislike them for the way they milk the media in the way they always have and profit from the story. Louis doesn't pick up on this as much as he usually would and as a result it's not as good as other programmes. However as a close look at a scandal and a look at a couple who don't work but rather appear to swoop onto publicity like vultures this is pretty good.

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