Aside from a few clips, I didn’t see the Netflix series Harry & Meghan, but last night I did watch the first episode of With Love, Meghan.
The reviews - in Britain, at least - are so damning I thought it would be rude not to take a peek.
It wasn’t quite as bad as many British journalists are suggesting. (I stress ‘British’ because I suspect that in America they may view it a little differently, or at least through the prism of similar lifestyle programmes.)
The production values appear high (as you would expect, given the reported budget), and Markle/Sussex is clearly comfortable in front of the camera (as you would also expect of a former actress).
Some reviewers have highlighted the fact that the series is shot not in Meghan and Harry’s home in Montecito near Santa Barbara but in another rental property nearby.
But is that so different to other, similar, programmes? I remember Nigella Lawson filming several series on a set designed to look exactly like her own kitchen, but wasn’t. And to be fair to Markle/Sussex, she doesn’t hide the fact that filming didn’t take place in her own home.
There’s a surfeit of mood music, which also brings to mind some of Nigella’s programmes, but it’s clear that Meghan is no Nigella.
She decorates a cake, for example, but there’s no evidence that she personally made or baked it. And I’m not convinced that chucking a load of spaghetti and tomatoes into the same pan and cooking them together is going to take the culinary world by storm (although it will reduce the washing up, which is a bonus).
The biggest issue, however, is not that Montecito’s domestic goddess is filmed in the kitchen and garden of a rented farmhouse rather than her own home, or that her cooking and party prepping skills are arguably more basic than we are being encouraged to believe.
It’s the fact that the programme is ultimately rather boring and I struggled to get to the end without turning it off and doing something more interesting. (I’m not the target audience, I know, but still.)
I’m glad I persisted though because episode one of With Love, Meghan concluded with Markle/Sussex sitting in the garden of the rented farmhouse with her guest (make-up artist and friend Daniel Martin) and before them was the most incredible view of what I’m guessing are the Santa Ynez Mountains.
If that didn’t make viewers more than slightly envious I don’t know what will.
Finally, and whatever you think of Meghan or the programme, it’s inspired some of the best (and bitchiest!) writing I’ve read for some time. There are several pieces to choose from but if I had to select one, take a bow, Julie Burchill (Spectator)!
Below: Santa Ynez Mountains from the rooftop terrace of our hotel in Santa Barbara, August 2013. You can’t fault Harry and Meghan for choosing to live in Montecito, which is five miles away. If I had the wherewithal, I’d probably live there too.
