The Real Housewives of Cheshire, ITVBe - TV review

The real star of the show is not the women, but their wealth

The Real Housewives of Cheshire

If watching people whinge for no real reason is what you’re into, you’ll already be familiar with The Real Housewives reality television franchise. It began by documenting the lives of affluent women in California and has since located spin-off series in cities across America, finally arriving in the UK last week with The Real Housewives of Cheshire.

The real star of the show is not the women, but their wealth and so each scene opens with an aerial shot of someone’s tasteless mock Tudor mansion or a close-up of an expensive designer handbag. When it comes to big houses and the big boobs, we know Cheshire can compete, but what about the big rows?

This week, Dutch footballer’s wife, Magali, and party girl Lauren got on disappointingly well, over a meal of champagne cocktails “The more I get to know her, the more I realise, I’m married, she’s married,” observed Magali, and that wasn’t all for the uncanny similarities.

“A few years ago, you were writing a book. Well, I’ve been writing a book for 10 years!” said Lauren. “But then I lost it. I lost the book.” Perhaps Lauren’s loss is literature’s gain.