Posh People: Inside Tatler, BBC2 - TV review: Fundamentally not just about posh people

The show is also about posh journalists, a group that the posh journalists who make TV have a lot of sympathy for

Do they stock Tatler at Corrie newsagent the Kabin? Possibly not. As implied by the title of new three-part documentary series Posh People: Inside Tatler (BBC2), the target readership of this 300-year-old society magazine is a breed apart.

Where once it was only benefits claimants who were stigmatised and stereotyped by documentary television (a second series of Skint started on Channel 4 last night) now posh people are getting their share in programmes like Life Is Toff and The Auction House. It’s a balance of sorts.

Last night’s “dispatches from the frontline of privilege” included Tatler’s style editor tripping around the Notting Hill branch of Poundland (“Wow! This place is completely brilliant!”) the revival of side-saddle horse racing (very Downton) and a visit to the 10th Earl of Glasgow’s family seat in Ayrshire.

The Earl came across as intelligent and likable, as did pretty much everyone in this documentary – but especially commissioning editor Matthew Bell, formerly of The Independent on Sunday.

Perhaps that’s because, fundamentally, Posh People isn’t just about posh people; it’s also about posh journalists, a group that the posh journalists who make TV have a lot of sympathy for. Funny, that.