Radio review: Radio 1 Stories, Girls on Film - The adult industry's OK, but not in front of the parents

 

Chris Maume
Saturday 03 August 2013 18:58 BST
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The subjects of Sara Cox’s Girls on
Film were open and articulate
The subjects of Sara Cox’s Girls on Film were open and articulate (BBC)

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Personally, I'd say that the biggest obstacle to my working in the adult entertainment industry would be telling my mum, "I'm, er, giving up journalism, to go into ...." No, I just couldn't do it.

In Girls on Film for the reliably excellent Radio 1 Stories slot, Sara Cox spoke to several young women who get their kit off for a living but boast remarkably supportive families. Laetitia works for the Babestation-type channels (the high numbers on Freeview, I'm told). On her first night, not only was her mum watching, but her gran and auntie, too. All gave her the thumbs-up. What with her dad being a born-again Christian and all, she'd forgotten to mention it to him, even though she was living with him at the time. He soon found out when a bloke stopped him on the street and told him. Now he sends her job ads for other lines of work.

In-depth and investigative, it was a superb piece of work, all told, and the women were open and articulate. I don't know what the listener crossover between Radios 1 and 4 is – not massive, I'd have thought – but documentary-lovers would find much to detain them at 9pm on Mondays on Radio 1. There is the incessant music to contend with, but even if Bruno Mars and London Grammar aren't your thing, this is grown-up radio, not talking down to the kids.

Those of you subjecting your offspring to summer tuition might like to peruse the stats that Sushma Puri was given by the Institute of Education in Teacher vs Tutor. Maths tuition improves marks by 0.2 per cent of a grade; English and science tuition have no perceptible effect.

The institute's was the only objective voice in Puri's exploration of an unregulated market referred to by one expert as "the Wild West". Tutor firms think it's brilliant; schools tend to be sniffy. As one who has sent a child for tuition, I can confirm the programme's main conclusion: tuition does at least impart increased confidence.

Now, though, selective schools are tiring of the tutor effect, it seems – the tutored squeeze in, then struggle – and are making their entrance tests tutor proof. What's the betting that some bright sparks will soon offer tuition for tutor-proof exams?

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