Dispatches review: this Russell Brand investigation was a stark reminder of the power of TV
The TelegraphWhen news breaks these days, it breaks fast. As recently as Friday afternoon, this special edition of Channel 4’s Dispatches – Russell Brand: In Plain Sight – was just a rumour without a title. This was in part because this was a joint investigation into Russell Brand’s behaviour with the Times and Sunday Times, and interviews detailing rape, sexual assault and abuse of power allegations from the documentary had already been published online hours before the programme aired. Helen Berger, who worked as an assistant for Brand in 2006 when he was fronting the Endemol-produced Channel 4 show Big Brother’s Big Mouth, remembered getting phone calls from women in tears afterwards, “they just felt used”. The programme included portions of the pre-emptive video address released by Brand, in which he admitted to being “promiscuous”, but denied the allegations of non-consensual behaviour: “I seriously refute… these very, very serious criminal allegations”.