Get Rich, Quick

All you culturally curious people are probably hip to this already, but if not, please work your iplayer in the direction of Rich Hall's 'The Dirty South'.

It is funny and wry and alert. The premise is that the American media has a downer on the southern states and that this is not altogether fair. Rich Hall is a grouchy diamond, subverting some of the worst clichés in his testy manner. But there are also times when he examines the facts and simply caves in. You can't spend too much time with an old KKK dude and feel that the organisation has got an unfortunate rep.

Rich swears a bit, so hey, be careful. Then again, he loves a bit of Tennessee Williams, makes the case for Elvis and Sun Studios and is bemused by Mark Twain, that northern blow-in. Altogether, it's 90 minutes of intelligent and sweetly sustained TV that makes you want to toast the makers with fine bourbon on an ante-bellum porch, high on bougainvillea fumes and mockingbird tunes.