Television | “Probably the most hated TV series of all time” received zero stars from a British critic

British of The Guardian newspaper estimate From the new one on Netflix Buying London– ie London trade -TV series is rarely rude: the series gets zero stars.

The general rating scale in the media is one to five stars, and these limits are not usually exceeded. Therefore, even a one-star rating can be considered reasonably negative. The Guardian’s TV Critic Rebecca Nicholson however, writes that he hates almost everything London trade – series and therefore cannot give it even the first star.

Already in the title, the series is said to be “Probably the most hated TV series of all time”.

London trade is the British version of the American one Selling Sunset: Hollywood Realtors from the series. Both follow real estate agents looking for luxury apartments for super-rich clients.

The Guardian’s Nicholson previously had a more favorable attitude to the American version than the now published British version, viewing it as a smooth pastime from distant California. London trade instead, takes place in his own home country – and is, according to him, both boring and infuriating.

“I hate that its drama is created by pitting women against each other. I hate that it gets Notting Hill -film to look like a documentary about the grittier part of London,” Nicholson writes.

“Everything that is seen in the series is absurdly extravagant,” he continues. “All apartments have an amazing number of bathrooms, bedrooms, walk-in closets, spa areas and swimming pools. Brokers talk about square meters, valuable addresses and celebrity neighbors.”

The Guardian is positioned politically to the left in the British media field and is generally seen as a counter force to numerous conservative media. Nicholson also brings up the social point of view, although he states that he would not like to be “too Guardian-like” about it.

“But there is a painful, protracted housing crisis going on all over Britain. Income inequality in London is massive, with 25 per cent of residents living in poverty due to housing costs and rents have risen by 10.6 per cent over the year to an average of £2,035 a month. So this kind of goofy entertainment doesn’t seem so harmless, but outrageous,” Nicholson writes.

Zero reviews of the star are so rare that after this review appeared, The Guardian published a compilation story from their previous zero star ratings.

A couple of critics say that they don’t even remember seeing, let alone criticizing, such bad cultural products, which the TV critic Lucy Mangan interprets as some kind of mental protection mechanism. In 2021, he stopped giving stars to Netflix Sex: Unzipped – for the TV show, where sex-positivity was discussed with the help of dolls, for example.

Others zero-star cultural products have been, for example Love Island -TV series, Fame Academy– and The X Factor Live talent show – as well as a horror comedy The Greasy Strangler (2016), whose many downsides film critic Wendy Ide recalls in the Guardian story.

“It wasn’t even about the whole movie being so mind-blowingly disgusting that after watching its images you want to scrape out your eyeballs with a teaspoon,” says Ide. Even that could have lasted, he continues, “if only the film wasn’t so predictably long-winded”.