Call The Nostalgia

With politicians from all sides sniping at him Conservative Prime Minister John Major didn't exactly have an easy time in the top job. His cabinet was split on Europe - and other things - he referred to those on his side of the house who were ganging up against him as 'bastards' (I'm sure many a Prime Minister has uttered the same words, but with Major we got to know about them). ITV's satirical masterpiece 'Spitting Image' depicted him as a grey man who wore his underpants on the outside. It was a time when Politicians were thought of as the scum of the earth - not unlike now. It was a time of gloom, crashing financial markets, soaring interest rates.
Against this background a television show captured the public imagination. Simple stories simply told. The darling Buds of May offered weekly tales about Pop and Ma Larkin and their numerous offspring, nothing too demanding, nothing too funny, nothing overly dramatic and yet this confection appealed to viewers in their millions. Huge audiences sat down to watch The Darling Buds of May each week. But why?
Downing Street, never very up on what's on the telly, sent for the tapes. Surely there could be something in this show they could tap into.

But Darling Buds was froth. There was nothing the spinmeisters and statisticians could get a grip on.

Yes, it had 'Del Boy', David Jason fresh off the success of Only Fools, yes it had a very pretty Welsh actress, Catherine Zeta Jones, in her first major role but what was at the heart of the formula. How could the politicians tap into this mix?

My theory about Darling Buds has always been nostalgia and sunshine. It tapped into an England that barely ever existed but one that we all love the notion of. And the sun shone, 99% of the time.

Skip forwards to 2012. A coalition government, headed by a Conservative Prime Minister, beset by Euro sceptics and unloved by the great unwashed. Austerity abounds, times is tough, we live under the shadow of a world going to hell in a handcart.

What are people watching in the millions? A Sunday night drama about bicycle-riding Midwives working in the East End of London in the 1950's - who live with Nuns. 'Call the Midwife' doesn't depict anything too dramatic, nothing too demanding, yes, there's a sprinkling of humour - but not too much and not much in the way of sunshine. But the nostalgia card is a powerful thing. Instead of sunshine we have babies.

In times of trouble we like to look back not naval gaze. Downing street won't need to send for the tapes this time. They can watch on the BBC iPlayer - and wonder how they can tap into the shows success.