The Choir: Boys Don't Sing

I am one for soppy stories where a group of (relatively) deprived kids come from behind to show they can challenge adversity and work as a team, at the same time learning to know and respect each other, and find comradeship and pride in creating something together. It sounds like the stuff of movies, but in fact this is the premise of a documentary series which has just ended on BBC2 called The Choir: Boys Don't Sing.

In it, a choir master called Gareth Malone travels to a boys' school in Leicester where he is given the task of setting up a singing group who will perform at the Youth Proms at the Royal Albert Hall. The four episodes take place over a period of nine months, but in that time it gradually dawns on this group of boys, who initially think singing is "gay" [sic.] and who come form very different cultural and social backgrounds, that they really love music and performing.

Being in a choir like the Pink Singers I can totally identify with their experience and journey of self-discovery, and the look on their faces when they realise that they can put on something special by working together is something reflected in my own. I remember my first season with the Pink Singers. I used to work in Tooting, but lived in Clapham, so I'd cycle to work every day, and on the way I'd listen to my music on my walkman and rehearse. It was such a feeling of pleasure, warmth and self-satisfaction to see us all create such beautiful sounds, and to think I was a part of it. I'm still slightly teary thinking about it!

I will admit that at times, occasionally because of personality differences, I can lose sight of that goal. But that is really what all choirs, and the Pink Singers in particular, are about. The Choir: Boys Don't Sing reawoke those dormant feelings in me again. Catch it on BBC iPlayer before it runs away - it is definitely worth the watch.