Lego Masters is my new favourite show. I have never played with Lego, nor have I ever felt any inclination to do so. My kids never played with it. So how come Lego Masters is my must-watch TV every week? When I stumbled on it while channel surfing, I couldn’t help it. I just had to watch. It was so colourful, happy, laid back, fascinating and totally, well, NICE.
There is no swearing. No violence. No bitchiness. No plotting or strategic play. Just honest to goodness, decent family fun. And the contestants are so clever. Gosh, they are talented. There is one contestant who is a bit of a pain in the proverbial, but he seems insignificant when there are so many teams who are genuinely likeable.
Flash Jordan the guy who races to the brick room at the velocity of a speeding bullet; the nerdy geeky couple who met and fell in love with lego and each other; the Dads who have played with bricks all their lives and the oil rig workers who look as though they should be down the pub.
It is not as though I am a stranger to seeking a cheery moment with this sort of childlike innocence on TV. I confess to having a secret stash of Shaun the Sheep episodes that I watch when politics and reality get too much. Somehow, the antics of the naughty pigs are less odious than the pigs in parliament who have their snouts in the public trough.
Shaun’s pigs are so much nicer. When I first started watching TV back in 1960, it was a world of escapism and wonder. Dr Who was flying around space encountering Daleks and Cybermen; William Tell was a dab hand with the bow and arrow; the Lone Ranger was fighting bad guys and the good guys always won. Good triumphed over evil and we kids were safely tucked up in bed before the grown-up shows like “Peyton Place” started.
Watching Lego Masters is like travelling back in time on the Tardis, without the threat of aliens or monsters coming along to ruin the day. I have read comments on social media about it: people are saying that the kids are hurriedly fed, bathed and PJ’ed ready to sit down with Mum and Dad and watch the show TOGETHER.
Instead of coming home from school and racing for the X box, they are grabbing some Lego and playing with bricks. That a single TV show can proudly be held accountable for uniting families and getting kids to be creative is nothing short of astonishing.
This humble little show should be hailed by decent people everywhere for doing something others are too scared or apathetic to try and do: make TV entertaining again. May it be the first of many.
