Inside The Mega Twister, TV review: Despite the tragic story it was hard to take seriously

This programme couldn’t have been more American if it had arrived wrapped in a Stars and Stripes flag

(ZUMA/REX Shutterstock)

Speaking of indulging, America’s storm-chasing community was doing just that in the one-off special Inside The Mega Twister, documenting the tornado that struck El Reno, Oklahoma, on May 31, 2013.

Billed as an “extraordinary journey through the storm” by the storm-chasers who found themselves caught up in it, this programme couldn’t have been more American if it had arrived wrapped in a Stars and Stripes flag, from the flashing sequences to the film-style voiceover and interviews in the present tense.

Unfortunately, it was hard to take seriously – which it should have been as three of the storm-chasers, expert Tim Samaras, his photographer son Paul and meteorologist Carl Young, tragically lost their lives filming it.