Made in Chelsea is a castle built on the sands of cheating, backstabbing and hysterical arguments, all of which offer perfect vehicles for showing off the inherent passive-aggression of the privileged. This calm and collected spin-off, Beyond Chelsea, follows three of its big-name stars – Binky Felstead, Rosie Fortescue and Lucy Watson – as they navigate their early 30s, through motherhood, businesses (and what businesses they are!), love and dating. Sadly, two of the three are in settled relationships, so the dating takes a back seat to discussions about weaning babies and what they got up to on Made in Chelsea but are far too mature to even consider these days.
The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles, as Marx and Engels once wrote. Binky, Rosie and Lucy try desperately to locate some upper class struggles – any struggles will do – for the sake of the narrative here. On a human level, the fact that this first episode is largely drama-free is a testament to the contentment that each seems to have found in their lives. Reality television can be a bear pit, and to watch them talk about how hard they work, how good they look and how happy they are is, in a funny way, mildly soothing and gently ambient, like an eight-hour brown noise YouTube video.
