In a tribute to the late Mike Reid, ITV1 will air The Baron, the final TV show he made before his death last July. The show will launch this Thursday night.
The show will start three days after Mike Reid, Malcolm McLaren and Suzanne Shaw arrived in the remote Scottish village of Gardenstown. Mike immediately started on his PR offensive, Suzanne went after the vital kids vote while Malcolm embarked on a less than orthodox campaign. The competition for the title of Baron is hotting up and over the next three days the candidates start to turn on each other.
During episode two, Malcolm's campaign takes on a darker purpose when he declares a sinners day "for all to have sex like crazy" and when he tries to start a revolution, the village is rocked to the core.
During their first three days in Gardenstown, Mike and Suzanne took every opportunity they could to increase their support from the villagers. Having already alienated the village, Malcolm goes in search of the alternative vote from the local bikers. Mike and Malcolm are also clearly unimpressed with one another so far. Mike muses on Malcolm: "Down south we have a name for it. A load of crap." In two days time, the candidates will get a second chance to address the locals at the annual Strawberry Fair. It's an opportunity to set out their manifestos as would be Barons. Early indications show that Mike and Suzanne are neck and neck while Malcolm is left trailing in their wake.
When Mike and Malcolm are asked to help a villager paint his boat, Malcolm is reluctant to participate and his anarchist roots come to the fore when he paints an A for Anarchy sign on the vessel. The boat owner is not impressed while Malcolm remains unrepentant. "I've not come here to be a painter and decorator, thank you. I've come here to be above it all. It's his bloody boat, he can paint it himself."
Mike carries on helping finish the paint job but has some harsh words for his fellow candidate. "Malcolm has shown his true colours. Basically the man is like a two-year-old child, you tell him something you want him to do and he does exactly the opposite. He wastes time, he upsets people but of course he's known to be controversial. From where I'm sitting he gets right up my nose."
Malcolm tells the cameras later. "Only someone as sycophantic and pathetic as Frank Butcher would paint his boat, I just wanted to kick the paintbrush out of his hand frankly."
That evening, Malcolm and Suzanne cook for their host families and invited guests. Donald, the local reverend is the guest in Malcolm's house which makes for an interesting evening for the former Sex Pistols manager.
On the advice of the Reverend, the next morning Malcolm gets up early and heads to the Spar shop in an attempt to win round some of the villagers. Mike and Suzanne spend the day working with local businesses; Suzanne in the bakery and Mike next door in the butcher's with Suzanne's host Bill. Mike introduces himself to Bill. "Bill the Butcher, I'd like you to meet a real man - Frank the Butcher.”
Malcolm's campaign isn't doing too well and Donald tells him that "you're not positive enough about the village. You need to be more positive and assertive. You need to say that you love the place, you love the people and you'd love to come here for a year to do your Baronry bit."
Malcolm retorts: "I'm not sure that's true, I have to be honest with people. They have to come see me too. The fact that I'm here and have travelled an awful long way is a pretty good. What can the village do for me? People are shutting doors in my face, people don't want to talk, they tell me to follow Jesus every five minutes, I'm going a bit crazy here."
The day of the annual Strawberry Fair dawns where the candidates will each deliver their speeches, outlining to the locals what they'll do for the village if they become Baron. Before any of that happens, the locals decide to test the celebrities by getting each of them to set up a stall of their own at the fair. Suzanne has a brain wave and wants to set up a stall using Malcolm's face as a giant dartboard. "I think I'd get a lot of people at the stall, it's a bit controversial as well." Mike decides on a stall where the locals can pay to throw wet sponges at him while Malcolm attempts to set up a 'sinners tent.' Having given up hope of winning the title Malcolm has a different kind mission in mind saying he is going to declare "a sinners day for all." How will his idea go down with the deeply religious locals?
Before long its time for the celebrities to take to the stage in front of the entire village at the Strawberry Fair. The harbourmaster Michael Watt introduces Suzanne first who promises to raise funds for storm gates and the public hall. Mike asks the villagers not to have pre-conceived ideas of who he is and to attempt to get to know him. He also reveals that he has loved his time in the village. Malcolm is up last and the competition to become Baron takes a dramatic twist as he tells the shocked villagers, "this is the worst place I've ever been to in my entire life, I'm sick to death already and I've only been here a few days." The speech goes from bad to worse and ends with Malcolm being heckled by the locals and forcibly removed from the stage. Will he have to leave the village for good?
Thursday 1 May 2008 10:35pm - 11:35pm on ITV1.
Subscribe to the feed version of Unreality TV in a feed reader.
City Halls and Old Fruitmarket, Glasgow, 
that she usually refuses to get her picture taken or sign autographs for male fans. She told an awful story of how a man tried to force her to kiss him whilst shopping one day so he could get his picture in the paper.
which gives tips on how to improve medical conditions by changing your diet.
