TV review: Shell comes under fire on UK primetime

Comedian’s documentary had dishonesty at its core. But its very commissioning should give the European oil industry pause for thought

Shell found itself in the unusual position this weekend of taking a place in the primetime UK TV schedules, as one of the country’s major broadcasters, Channel 4, aired the documentary ‘Joe Lycett vs the Oil Giant’. In it, the titular comedian turned consumer rights activist accused the oil firm of greenwashing. It was, to put it bluntly, an extremely poor piece of programming, reflecting badly on all those involved. Lycett himself openly admitted that his only interest in the corporate world was to bash it. And, with the notable exception of university professor Mike Berners-Lee, the selection of talking heads rolled out were so fringe as to be approaching parody. Their inclusion was certai