US diplomats learn British ways by watching Gogglebox

US diplomats learn our ways… from Gogglebox: Channel 4 show is used as an unofficial training tool to better understand British humour, accents and attitudes

• US embassy staff in Nine Elms, London, have been advised to watch Gogglebox 
• It is hoped it will help diplomats better understand the UK and British people
• Staffers were told to watch it to gain the ‘perspective you don’t get in London’

For millions of Brits it’s cult viewing on a Friday night.

But now it can be revealed Channel 4 series Gogglebox is also a hit with diplomats at the US embassy – so they can better understand the UK.

Staff at the embassy in Nine Elms, London, have been advised to watch the show in their spare time to get a better understanding of real Brits.

The BAFTA-winning programme, which has won over legions of fans since its launch in 2013, sees regular families and friends from around the country sitting in their living rooms while commenting on the week’s TV and news.

And it has caught the attention of diplomats at the US embassy who have used the show, particularly during the covid lockdowns, to keep up to speed with the views and attitudes of real people across the country.

US embassy staff in Nine Elms, London, have been advised to watch Gogglebox (Jenny and Lee pictured on the show)

Local British staff at the embassy were the first to advise incoming American diplomats about watching the show.

Now it has caught on among a large group of US staff in the embassy who have also learnt to love the show for its range of characters, accents and ‘humorous wit’.

Aaron Snipe, US State Department spokesman at the embassy, was told to watch the show when he arrived amid covid lockdown two years ago to ‘get perspectives you don’t hear in London’.

The 50-year-old diplomat said his favourite family on the show are the Worthingtons from Manchester, made up of mum Alison, dad George and daughter Helena.

‘The Worthingtons are the family I most want to sit down and watch TV with’, he explained.

‘If I had to sit on any couch it would be theirs – such warmth, and Helena says such irreverent things in front of her parents.

‘It’s appealing to the American eye because you can see people on this show are very different from one another – geographically, ethnically, religiously.

‘But they all seem to see the same thing – like when a baby survives [on a medical show] or Her Majesty the Queen passed, everyone feels the same thing.’

Angela Stubblefield, 51, of the US aviation authorities at the embassy, explained how her favourites are brother and sister Pete and Sophie Sandiford (pictured) from Blackpool

Angela Stubblefield, 51, of the US aviation authorities at the embassy, explained how her favourites are brother and sister Pete and Sophie Sandiford from Blackpool or Jenny Newby and Lee Riley, who watch the show from the latter’s caravan in Hull.

‘I like Pete and Sophie a lot – they’re very witty’, said Angela.

‘Also Jenny and Lee – his expressions looking at Jenny at times as if to say ‘where are you coming from?’

‘The show is poignant, charming, hilarious. Also the slangs and idioms are helpful to know – if someone throws something in you don’t want to be the dumb American who has to ask what it means.’

Clay Crawford, a 49-year-old doctor at the embassy, said Gogglebox was one of the few places he was able to ‘get a better sense of the UK’.

‘The two places I was able to get a better sense of the UK was walking the dog and Gogglebox’, he said.

‘You got a little bit of the sense of wit and humour and accents which is what entertains everyone.’

Brenda VanHorn, who works with business from the embassy, said she felt more at home in the UK after watching the show.

The 61-year-old said: ‘I instantly identified with siblings Sophie and Pete, the Siddiquis – it reminded me of sitting watching a show with my sister – that common bond.

‘It definitely made me feel more at home here and helped with the accents.’

Gogglebox is into its 20th season while there have been a number of celebrity spin-offs and Gogglesprogs shows with kids.

The Siddiqui family – dad Sid, 75, and his two sons Baasit, 36, and Umar, 43 from Derby – are the only family to have appeared since the first episodes in 2013.

It is one of TV’s most popular shows with viewing figures regularly exceeding four and five million people.

Stephen Lambert, the show’s founder, said: ‘I couldn’t think of anything better for them to do if they want to get a flavour and understanding of what Britain is thinking each week – that’s what is the magic of the show.

‘It’s such a diverse cast, amazingly insightful – particularly the news stories when they see through politicians and their prepared PR lines. And you just look at the way they watch the Queen’s funeral and her death – it’s an amazing way of reflecting what we as a country are thinking and feeling each week.’

But Rita Rico, 42, who works in strategic communications at the embassy, said she occasionally struggles with some of the families’ lingo.

The BAFTA-winning programme, which has won over legions of fans since its launch in 2013, sees regular families and friends from around the country sitting in their living rooms while commenting on the week’s TV and news

‘It’s funny with the translation because I meant to ask JP and Katie [local British staff] what a ‘right hoo-ha’ is’, she explained.

‘I saw that the other night and have to write down these vocabulary words, and tomorrow I think ‘I’m going to ask them what this means’.

‘We serve our country by creating bonds across the UK – so Gogglebox gives us a chance to get out of London from our living rooms.’

And embassy staff have even taken to watching soap favourite Coronation Street on the back of Gogglebox.

‘We’ve watches shows or started watching them because we’ve seen them on Gogglebox, Coronation Street, I had never heard of it, Eastenders,’ said Ms Stubblefield.

She added: ‘People told us before we came here Brits are a little more stern, they’re not as outwardly emotive as Americans are…

‘We haven’t found that necessarily to be the case but this demonstrates there’s a compassion, there’s a wit, there’s a humanity that’s no different to what we all experience – it made us feel warmer about being ourselves as we see these people are just like us.’

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