The Million Pound Necklace: Inside Boodles, Channel 4, TV review

Boodles owners stole the show from champagne-swilling customers

The Million Pound Necklace: Inside Boodles on Channel 4 (Channel 4 )

Puppy dogs are just for Christmas, but diamonds are for ever.

That’s why it doesn’t matter whether you, dear pauper, have ever heard of Boodles, the high-end jewellers featured in The Million Pound Necklace: Inside Boodles on Channel 4 last night.

When the product is this pricey, only a few extra-special customers are necessary to keep the business afloat.

This documentary used the construction of Boodles’ first million-pound necklace (part of an emerald jewellery suite worth over £2m in total) as a clever narrative device to introduce us to a hidden world of wealth.

It wasn’t the champagne-swilling customers who were most interesting, however, but the various members of the Wainwright family, owner of Boodles for five generations.

My favourite was Jody Wainwright, son of the current chairman and a company director. Jody may have a girl’s name and the hair of Princess Di on a ski trip circa 1993, but he sure does know his stuff when it comes to spending vast sums on tiny, shiny rocks.

At least I thought he did, until he began admiring a rare Ashoka diamond. “It’s got that sort of Fox’s Glacier Mint look to it,” he said to his New York contact. I

s that a technical term, Jody? Or could it be you’re bluffing?