...and she's a girl

Episode 4 featured a woman playing golf just like a man would.

...And She's a Girl was an ITV documentary series that ran for four series from 1992 to 1996, highlighting the role women play in modern society. It was notable for its unflinching examination of women performing tasks and doing activities. It was the first programme on British television to show a women watching a game of football.

Conception

The series was created by famous Welsh documentarian David Plate after a visit to a London restaurant. He made positive comments to a waiter about a chicken breast fricassée with lemony artichokes. The waiter's response mentioned the name of the Chef, a name which Plate recognised as most likely belonging to a women. Surprised and then ashamed by his suprise, Plate considered how prevalent the paradigm of defaulting attribution of both small and large achievements to men is. The fact that he was later to find out that the Chef was a man (with beard), just with a very feminine name, did not dissuade Plate from pursuing the idea of an investigation into women doing stuff making a viable television series.

In September 1991, ITV contoller George Maxcar ordered six half-hour episodes of a documentary series to be produced by David Plate, presented by Henry Kelly, entitled "...And She's a Girl".

Format

Each episode would contain two main stories - one either side of the commercial break, in which women would perform tasks or be involved in activities. Henry Kelly introduced each segment by explaining the task that was about to be shown, famously then turning to a second camera in close up and saying, "and she's a girl." There was not voice-over whilst the actual action was being shown. Plate was adament that he wanted the, "movements of the women" to speak for themselves.

Notable Episodes

The first episode feature Sussex housewife Jean Renhard lighting a firework in her back-garden. She lit it at 8:30pm on a July evening and some reviewers were quick to critiscise the reduced complexity of lighting he firework before it was completely dark. Further, people were concerned the firework's aesthetic properties were not properly exhibited under the conditions. ITV explained in a statement that Mrs Renhard was unable to light the firework later because of a pre-organised appointment to watch Inspector Morse.

One notable 1994 episode had Sarah Ferguson, The Duchess of York, prepare a glass of Diet Pepsi for Princess Anne using a Sodastream. The drink was dismissed by Princess as Anne as "brown shit," and the segment ended with Ferguson sending "one of her people", to Sainsburys to source Princess Anne some Gin.

Controversies

A 1995 episode contained a film of a women named Pamela Willow parallel parking a transit van caused controversy when it was discovered a man had been involved in the set-up of the vans starting position prior to Willow's manoeuvrings. Critics argued that having the van positioned in a precise and favourable position diminished the achievement of Willow. ITV released a statement released a statement denying, "everything and anything to do with everything." Willow died in a balooning accident just six months later.

In the final series, one of the segments showed TV personality Noel Edmonds programming a video recorder to record Match of the Day. The story was notable as being the only one not focusing on a female with Henry Kelly's catchphrase, "and she's a girl' being noticeably absent from the introduction. The press saw this story as the beginning of the end of the series. Noel Edmonds has since admitted he never watches Match of the Day.

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