CHRISTOPHER STEVENS reviews Tommy: The Good, The Bad, The Fury... and asks why we need five hours of this spectacularly dense reality star
Tommy: The Good. The Bad. The Fury (BBC3)
'Who the hell,' wondered reality star Tommy Fury in the barber's chair, 'is interested in me getting my hair cut?'
This, the sole (and probably accidental) instance of self-awareness from the 26-year-old part-time boxer during Tommy: The Good. The Bad. The Fury, sums up everything that is depressing and baffling about television in the social media age.
This 10-part documentary follows Tommy around his soulless Cheshire mansion, goes motoring with him in his flash cars, and hangs around at the gym while he trains for his next fight.
Why the Beeb thinks anyone, even on its backwater 'yoof' channel BBC3, needs five hours of Tommy is beyond comprehension.
Ella Al-Shamahi, in her BBC2 archaeology series Human last month, managed to cover the entire prehistory of our species in that time.
The younger brother of former heavyweight boxing champion Tyson Fury, he is spectacularly dense.
Joey Essex, the boy who elevated stupidity into a performance art, is an intellectual compared to Tommy.
Tommy Fury in a scene from his documentary, Tommy: The Good, The Bad, The Fury
Tommy Fury said he does not remember what it felt like when his fiancee Molly Mae-Hague walked out on him with their daughter Bambi, as he was intoxicated
He has published his autobiography, of course. Whether he's read it is less certain. Boasting about its sales, he declared the 'auto-book' was doing especially well. He means 'audio book'.
Signing photos of himself in younger days for fans, he asked his manager Jake, 'Why don't I look like that any more?'
Jake fumbled for a diplomatic answer, and tried a metaphor that Tommy might understand: 'You've had a lot of fights since then — puts miles on the clock. Does your car still look the same as when you bought it?'
Tommy pouted: 'Does when it's clean.'
The footage has been edited to present him in the best possible light, but his vanity cannot be concealed from the camera. He's evidently touchy about any criticism.
When his on-off girlfriend Molly-Mae Hague suggested over breakfast that his pullover looked 'a bit girly', he bristled: 'Why are you throwing insults at 8.30 in the morning about my jumper?'
The couple, who met on ITV's Love Island and have a toddler daughter named Bambi, separated last year, though they now appear to have reconciled.
Tommy is seen arriving for the premiere of the documentary in Manchester
Tommy is seen holding his daughter Bambi in a scene from his documentary
Tommy denies rumours that he was unfaithful, but admits his heavy drinking drove Molly-Mae away. 'I hold my hands up,' he said, 'drink got a hold of me — 20 shots a night, 20 beers. I used to drink to get black-out drunk.'
He blames a hand injury that kept him out of the boxing ring. He drank, he says, to simulate the buzz of fighting.
As he returns to training, the implication is that he's kicked the booze — but he did not talk about how he did that, or whether he intends to stay on the wagon.
More openness about his drink problem could have given this documentary some value. Instead, we're left watching a vacuous young man getting a haircut. And as even he knows, nobody's interested in that.
