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BBC calling

A BBC reality show on the industry — simply called Call Centre — might help view the beleaguered service sector in a different light. The seven-part "observational business reality show" tracks two call centre employees, and through their personalised perspectives, hopes to offer a more humane view of the industry itself.

At the preview of the first episode of Call Centre, Niret and Manira Alva of Miditech talked about what prompted them to produce a first-of-its-kind reality show. "We wanted to lift the veil off what happens in big, exciting buildings, apparently out of sync with the rest of the world," said Manira. While this "urban tribe" was material for a good anthropological study, all the hot debates that surrounded the industry made it extremely newsworthy too. The first episode of Call Centre seems to offer a rather rosy picture of the sunrise industry: of a newfound confidence and a dream coming true. But the "dispassionate" camera, through a series of juxtapositions, does manage to offer an interesting contrast between the somewhat naïve aspirations of a middle-class youngster and the clinical and calculative ways of his workplace.

(The first episode of Call Centre will be on BBC tomorrow at 11 a.m. and again at 10 p.m.)

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