Very soon an interesting, and what will be confronting, facet of multicultural Britain will feature on UK television in a documentary series about a typical British family in the new millenium. It will no doubt raise some interesting questions about what is ‘British’ these days and will certainly both entertain and provoke discussion.

Meet the Grewals. This a family, a very British family, in modern day Britain. They are Sikh’s and three generations of the family live under the one roof – whether or not we get more than brief glimpse of snatches of The Kumars remains to be seen, but I will be watching for sure What is more I hope that certain people who argue about who and what constitutes ‘British’ today tune in to the show.

Where it all started…

This concept is not new of course. Reality television featuring fly-on-the-wall coverage of everyday families began way back in 1978 with a documentary about the Wilkins family of Reading. But it was the eye-opening series filmed in 1992 at 48 Macintyre Crescent in the waterside suburb of Sylvania Waters in Sydney, Australia that heralded the new medium of reality television that we know today and what an introduction it was! it was narrated by 15 year old Micheal Baker, son of Noeline.

The ‘stars’ were the Donaher and Baker families headed by Laurie Donaher and his formidable partner Noeline Baker. They were a couple living together in one of Sydney’s more affluent suburbs during the height of the Keating Labor Govt and the ‘recession we had to have’. The things which particularly stood out were the contrasts in lifestyles between the couple and their adult offspring – Laurie and Noeline living in luxury in a waterside home whilst Noeline’s son, Paul and his pregnant fiancee Dione, live in a rented weatherboard house in the not-so affluent Western Suburbs (Mortdale) of Sydney on a very basic wage, often unable to afford fuel for their car.

This series sparked intense debate among Australians who found themselves glued to the series – you either loved Noeline or you hated her but you could not ignore the fact that this family represented very well the lives of millions of Australians. It was like holding up a mirror to the masses…and many did not like what they saw. The overriding message though was it showed that in Australia there is a high quality of lifestyle available to anyone – it just takes a lot of hard work to get there, it is not just handed to you on a plate. No doubt the Grewals of Great Britain will demonstrate that in their own way as well.

After the series ended the family went on to mixed fortunes:

Micheal Baker (teenage son of Noeline) – at the age of 23 Micheal was involved in a hostage drama in 1999 when he was one of six tourists kidnapped by Rwandan rebels in Uganda. He was freed eventually unharmed.

Mick and Yvette (Laurie’s son and daughter-in-law) - remained happily married and several years after the series Yvette gave birth to a son, a brother for their two daughters.

Paul and Dione (Noeline’s ever-battling son and daughter-in-law) – sadly despite the birth of son Kane during the series, and their on-screen wedding, Paul and Dione’s marriage ended rather acrimoniously with Dione accusing Paul of domestic violence and fleeing to Queensland with their child.

Noeline and Laurie Donaher – The couple eventually married in Monaco but separated during the late 90′s. They have since reunited and are now living retired on the Gold Coast.

Noeline’s recording of ‘No Regrets’

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