Inside Europe, 10 years of turmoil: Forget Shipwrecked... if you really want drama, watch this lot fight it out at the EU

High stakes: Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission, talks to German Chancellor Angela Merkel
BBC/European Council Newsroom

The problem with Europe - one that arguably contributed to the success of the Leave campaign - is that it sounds dry.

Tariffs, customs unions and free- trade agreements are unlikely to get the heart racing: most of us would rather watch escapist TV (the return of Shipwrecked is filling that hole very nicely).

So it’s testament to Inside Europe that it actually makes the mechanics of Brussels engaging.

If it helps, think of it as a kind of multi-nation political Shipwrecked: impressive access to contestants - maverick figures unafraid to speak candidly - searing dramatic tension as the players struggle to preserve the delicate balancing act between their own interests and that of the collective - nail-biting uncertainty over how long they will stay in the game.

Pictured: David Cameron and Donald Tusk
BBC/European Council Newsroom

This is the second instalment of the documentary from the team behind Inside Obama’s White House. It started last week, focusing on the lead-up to the EU referendum (with David Cameron and Theresa May conspicuously absent).

This episode, entitled Going for Broke, affords a broader perspective, hinting at fundamental flaws in the European Union that go beyond the UK’s relationship with it.

It begins in 2009 and examines the European Council’s attempt to cope with the fallout from the financial disaster in Greece. The euro was in trouble and Grexit was a real possibility; a precursor to our current Brexit.

There is a strong line-up of talking heads — former French president Nicolas Sarkozy, Yanis Varoufakis, who was Greece’s finance minister, our very own ex-chancellor Alistair Darling and Herman Van Rompuy, former European Council president.

All look back on that tense time, when, as Sarkozy theatrically puts it: “We were trying to save a Europe on the edge of a precipice.” Current council president Donald Tusk is more blunt: “We were in deep s***.” I hope he talks this straightforwardly when negotiating exit deals with Mrs May.

Pictured: Matteo Renzi, Angela Merkel and Francois Hollande
BBC/European Council Newsroom

It all makes for gripping television (even better than Shipwrecked). The politicians discuss how their jobs intersect with their private lives — a German minister remembers getting a call from his boss Angela Merkel on a country walk. It isn’t a partisan show, leaving the interviewees to speak for themselves about those late nights in Brussels meeting rooms. (At one point, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras was locked in a room with Merkel and Sarkozy.) Nothing is overdramatised, it doesn’t need it.

Tusk is the star of the show, although Sarkozy tries hard, speaking in grand terms about “forces of persuasion” preserving “the joy of the project”. Obama is in the background and the American politicians who speak are brutally honest, seemingly bemused at the European project and the possible bailout solutions to the Greek debt crisis.

We see how these meetings impacted on the people of Greece, with footage of protests, and comic relief comes from two stop-motion animations of Merkel and Sarkozy. She’s in her signature suit, he is dressed as Napoleon and they are discussing why people perceive them as dictatorial.

It’s a well-made, engaging documentary, laying down this particular dysfunctional period for posterity. There’s one more episode left, about the migrant crisis. While the series doesn’t provide any answers, it’s a great snapshot of the machinations of power that affect our everyday lives.

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