Holiday Hijack

(Channel 4)

Holiday shows have been the mainstay of TV schedules for decades, from Judith Chalmers commenting on the quality of prawns in France to the Frosty Magenta DeVine and her Rough Guides to global destinations.

Channel 4’s latest offering in the travel market had its first airing last night. It focused on four 20-somethings who regularly enjoy the highlife, flying around the world to quality hotels from which they rarely venture.

The quartet – Natalie, Louise, Alex and Dan – did little to endear themselves to the viewers, with an arrogant swagger and charmless attitude to foreign visits.

So what better way to treat the little darlings than transfer them from their five-star Gambian hotel to the abject poverty of a nearby village and the home of local single mother Bella, brother Omar and family?

The pink champagne was soon put on ice, as holidaying was replaced with the harsh reality of everyday life in this impoverished part of Africa.

If, like this week’s foursome, your idea of foreign travel is to spend the whole holiday by the pool, never leaving the hotel foyer, then this programme – which gives a ‘free’ holiday to entice travellers – is probably best avoided.

For the four holidaymakers, mixing with communities beyond the luxury they so cherished, it was a humbling journey. Helping to sell traditional gifts in the deserted markets, gutting fish for the equivalent of £2 a day, and being treated like royalty by the villagers didn’t come easy.

And of the four friends, it was Dan who irritated the most with his dirt phobia, which peaked at the fish market where he insisted on wearing a carrier bag to protect his clothing.

But slowly it dawned on them all that happiness didn’t come in the form of fluffy towels and power showers.

By the end of the week showering with buckets became second nature.

And when Bella asked the group if they wanted to return to the five-star hotel for the final night of their holiday or remain in the arguably squalid conditions she called home, the unanimous decision was to remain with the new-found Gambian friends.

In a tearful union, the Brits and natives enjoyed a final night together before travelling the following day to a ‘luxury spa’ Gambian-style – on the mudflats of the local river.

Even self-confessed clean-freak Dan joined in the mud-slinging.

As the programme continued, the four friends matured before our eyes and by the end of the ‘holiday’ Natalie, Louise, Alex and Dan appeared to be genuinely sad to leave, feeling privileged to have shared the lives of Bella, Omar and co.

Will they return to their vacuous ways? Sadly, probably.

Will they remember this trip always? Absolutely.