Lauren Jones
Sue Perkins: Perfectly Legal shows the much-loved comedian and presenter complete a “Latin American Odyssey”. From favela funk raves to fireworks, sex motels to shooting guns and rapping to rooftop tanning, Sue Perkins: Perfectly Legal is a far cry from Perkins’ Great British Bake Off days.
A Mega Mid-Life Crisis
Most people, when they reach Sue Perkins age, would change jobs or maybe get a new pet. Instead, the former Bake Off presenter decided to travel across Latin America in a quest to combat her fears of middle age and being stuck in a rut.
The three-part travel docuseries follows Perkins through Columbia, Mexico, Brazil, and Bolivia, where she connects with local comedians who guide her through this adventure sponsored by the YOLO mentality.
“The series is a wild ride from start to finish”
The series is a wild ride from start to finish: the opening scene feels somewhat The Hangover-esque, with Perkins facing down a man with a gun but no immediate explanation for how she got there.
Although the choices of location and activity feel a little random, the series is a fast-paced, thrilling, and at times shocking watch that does exactly what it’s meant to: provide entertainment.
Perkins As The Perfect Protagonist
Perkin’s goofy, earnest, and likeable nature makes her the perfect protagonist for this series. Her simultaneous desire and reluctance to step out of her comfort zone present some hilarious moments, which is epitomised by her inner conflict when one of her guides encourages her to go against her British instincts and jump the queue for the toilets.
“deeper and more meaningful than just another travel programme”
It’s a testament to Perkins that she is able to achieve so much through 3 x 45-minute episodes: from bizarre to astonishing, awkward, surprising, wild, unbelievable, euphoric, hilarious, saddening, contemplative, and poignant, it’s all there.
Filmed partly pre- and partly post-pandemic, the change in meaning to Perkins’ quest to find “freedom and fun that last forever” shapes the docuseries into something deeper and more meaningful than just another travel programme about finding yourself.
A Money-Making Ploy Or Something More?
“a massive oversimplification to dismiss the series as a money-making ploy”
The marketing for the docuseries would absolutely have you believe that this trip is nothing more than a fifty-something-year-old woman coming to terms with being middle-aged and going on a holiday to try and escape the tediousness of her everyday life.
To some extent it is. But it’s also a massive oversimplification to dismiss the series as a money-making ploy: to neglect the emotional significance of this journey for Perkins cheapens the concept.
Some scenes, like Perkins rapping about genitalia at a 3am rave or coming to terms with her unresolved sadness surrounding death and infertility during a psychedelic trip, are clearly significant for Perkins personally.
The inclusion of these scenes, because of their unscripted nature and genuine emotion, makes the show so much more than a simple money-making ploy and instead transforms it into a commentary about the difficulties and trauma that middle-aged women can face and are facing in the twenty-first century.
The show also attempts to broach some heavy, but important topics through the people that Perkins meets along the way.
Conversations with sex workers and with a group of women who feel “obligated” to be beautiful, a trip to a factory that bullet-proofs vehicles and an incredibly uncomfortable discussion with a bar full of men who engage in sexual activity with donkeys, serve to highlight differences between what is acceptable and normal in other cultures in comparison to ours.
While this arguably creates an ‘us vs them’ mentality, it’s a credit to the docuseries that it doesn’t shy away from these discussions and attempts to bring difficult and taboo subjects into mainstream media.
“It doesn’t limit itself to being just a funny show about a funny woman”
Sue Perkins: Perfectly Legal achieves a lot for something that is marketed as a show about coming to terms with getting older.
It is ambitious and funny, and most importantly doesn’t limit itself to being just a funny show about a funny woman doing exciting and strange things. It’s not perfect by any means – and the part where the men discuss having sex with donkeys was particularly awkward.
But hats off to Perkins for stepping outside her comfort zone and producing such an entertaining show – that we can enjoy from the safety and comfort of our sofas!
Featured image courtesy of Tom D’Arby on Pexels. Image license found here. No changes were made to this image.
Lauren Jones
Lauren is an Au Pair and a recent languages graduate. She is an aspiring journalist and is particularly interested in politics, social issues, and the arts.