The eagerly-awaited series An Island Parish has been running on BBC2 for four weeks now ? and it’s causing quite a stir.
It seems everyone has an opinion.
Methodists on the Islands are ?jumping?, according to a local pensioner, 72. She notes that Methodist Rev David Easton stepped in and oversaw a number of weddings and funerals before new Vicar Guy Scott’s arrival, a fact not mentioned in the show.
In fact Methodists outnumber Anglicans on the Islands and some are displeased at the perceived implication that Scilly has been in a “moral vacuum” since the departure of Rev Julian Ould.
But the series’ stunning scenery and feel-good factor have been good news for tourism.
The TIC is reportedly offering free tea and cakes to volunteers willing to help them out for a couple of hours to clear the backlog of calls after each episode.
And the show is attracting healthy viewing figures. The first episode’s audience was 2.7m and the fourth saw 2.8m tuning in.
With An Island Parish the subject on everyone’s lips, ScillyNews has been talking to locals and trawling websites to get to the bottom of what people are really saying. Here are a few snippets:
The scenery is lovely but there are not very many local people in it, people who’ve been living here for years. And they seem to catch the same box of fish every week! Local, 69
I watch and bounce up and down shouting, “I know that person”, “that’s my sister’s boyfriend’s boat”, “thats my mate’s house”, “yes Scilly really does look like that” (maybe not all the time but it does some of the time). Shah boy http://www.boardscilly.co.uk/
Like most Scilly lovers I have been watching An Island Parish. You’d be amazed how much one 1/2 TV slot can brighten up mundane Mondays in my life. Sholts, Hanham, Bristol
Is it just me or does the woman narrating An Island Parish have a tendancy to over-dramatise things’ I have never heard a church service potentially being missed described as “an absolute disaster” before!! Henry Ellis, http://www.scillyholiday.co.uk on http://www.scillywebcam.com
As many will know, prior to their time on Scilly the crew spent a couple of years in our neck of the woods in Boscastle. Most of us kept our heads down and just looked forward to tuning in each week for a right old larf at the supposed antics of the ‘chosen few’ who seemed always to materialise every time a camera was switched on! Reality television? - definitely not. Feel good television? - of course.
After a few episodes you Islanders might start running a book on who’s going to appear first/most/longest and other little games like we used to over here! Tis all harmless entertainment after all and keeps us simple country folk amused on these dark Winter nights. Boscastle Boy on http://www.scillyonline.co.uk
I’ve never been to Scilly but it looks very nice. Mainlander, 55
Personally I think there’s more to life than vicars and John Dory. Local, 44
If we really lived in a place like the Island Parish then I think we’d all move to Toyland for some action. I know Island Parish is a good thing, like a child knows cod liver oil is a good thing, but I watch it with a churning stomach, my kidneys in a centrifuge, with teeth and buttocks clenched. Like an ongoing WI meeting but with less attitude. I know it’s a wonderful window on the Islands, but that’s no reason to like it. Papal Bull http://scilly-life.blogspot.com/
I am a regular visitor to Scilly and am currently training for ordination in the Church of England so Island Parish hooked me on a number of fronts! I wish the new Vicar all the best in his post but if he decides to move on in about 5 or 6 years (when I will have finished my curacy) I would take his job in a moment! Cedd, forum poster
I just think it’s great to have a programe about Scilly which so far has not been centred on Tresco frigging gardens. Jack, forum poster
It is nice to see the Islands in the summer, it takes your mind off the grey and dampness we have had recently. Brakemore Wind, forum poster
Where was all the healthy hypocrisy, the drunkenness, the downright unabashed nastiness we all know and love? Let’s hope the remaining series investigates the sordid underbelly of Scilly and shows it like it really is. Bymore Mutton, forum poster