Jane The Virgin, TV review: Latin American TV phenomenon is given the slick treatment

The premise of this first episode was ridiculous but the characters are likable and the melodrama is done with its tongue firmly in cheek

Ridiculous premise: Gina Rodriguez as Jane and Andrea Navedo as Xiomara (Channel 4)

My introduction to telenovelas, a Latin American TV phenomenon, was through Blue Peter, weirdly. On a 1998 trip to Mexico, two presenters joined the cast of one of the country’s massively-popular, high-frequency, dubious-quality soaps. The quick turn-around meant scenes were filmed live with lines fed through ear-pieces. The result was ludicrous and terrible in equal measure.

So, what would a telenovela given the slick treatment be like? Jane the Virgin, a remake of an early noughties Venezuelan series showed us: pretty entertaining actually. Granted, the premise of this first episode – plus the cheesy voice-over and mockable melodrama – was ridiculous: Jane (Gina Rodriguez), a life-long virgin, was accidentally artificially inseminated with her boss Rafael’s (Justin Baldoni) sperm. Complicating already insane proceedings were Rafael’s scheming wife (Yael Grobglas) who his frozen sperm was intended for, and Jane’s new fiancé Michael (Brett Dier) who we were told – unsubtly, obviously - had a Dodgy Past.

It sounded awful, but the characters are likable (particularly Rodriguez who has already won a Golden Globe for the Role). Even just watching one episode, after a while I got used to the facial theatrics and the dun, dun, dun moments. It helps that the production’s slick, with subtitles and on-screen digital visuals (from text messages to character notes) adding to the novelty element. Plus, the melodrama is done with its tongue firmly in cheek: “Jane’s life was now the stuff of telenovelas” smarmed the voice-over guy as the mistake was revealed in this first episode. Luckily, this telenovela 2.0, is a lot better than that Mexican shambles from my childhood. Stick with it.