A lot has changed since Amol Rajan’s 2019 documentary How to Break into the Elite. We have lived through a pandemic, Brexit, two monarchs, three prime ministers, and we have learned who Paul Mescal is. But when it comes to class, nothing has changed. The UK is still preoccupied with the absurd signatures of class boundaries, where everything from your accent to your shoe colour can be weaponised.
According to the first episode of Rajan’s two-part documentary How to Crack the Class Ceiling (BBC Two), despite all the lip-service paid to merit-based inclusivity, the surest path to success seems to lie in resembling Jacob Rees-Mogg. Rajan’s approach is impressively meticulous at countering narratives around benefit scroungers and diversity being prized over talent – and uses case studies, statistics and academic research to uncover just how much rot is in the country’s foundations.
