Push

The Hills and The City both come to an end on Sunday. whether The City will continue on our TV screens remains to be seen but it is most definately the end of the road for The Hills. Coincidentally Push, the British version of The Hills hit our screens last night. It featured Sienna Miller lookalike, Lydia Harrison who has moved from Glasgow to London in order to pursue a career in fashion journalism on a glossy magazine. Armed with a popular blog, Lydia sets out to get as much experience as she can so we see her meeting with key people in fashion at Nicole Farhi, Models 1, Cult Beauty and Elle magazine in order to work on several projects. As money is tight she is crashing at her cousin, Chloe's funky studio flat in Shoreditch. Chloe is a ballerina who after an accident is struggling to learn how to dance again. Like The Hills. Push has its share of drama such as Lydia's ex boyfriend, Jake showing up out of the blue after he cheated on her. We also get introduced to Lydia's friends such as Alex who is her GBF and works in marketing and Tom who is an aspiring photographer. Push is a 10 week series where we will see Lydia working towards her goal, contributing to fashion blogs, working alongside top models and assisting stylists while navigating her way round the vibrant city of London. In Devil Wears Prada style we get to see her graduate from wearing high street clothes to designer labels.

They have been talking about making a UK version of The Hills for a few years now but nothing came of it so I was really surprised to hear about this show. The look and feel of the reality drama is quite dark and edgy; the shots are very much like the ones in The Hills and The City with over head paramanic views of London's skyline. I found the drama reality to be watchable but it did not draw me in like I was expecting; for some reason I just did not find the lead character very charismatic. She seemed really stiff and all her lines came across as extremely forced. However I guess as the series goes on and we see her getting more engrossed in her career I will start to engage more with the programme. There were a few things that niggled me though such as the lack of clarification on a few basic things. For a start what is the name of Lydia's blog? Also Lydia has just moved from Glasgow yet she has a very sloaney London accent - is she actually from the South of England and only lived in Glasgow for a few years? Lydia is seen hanging out at hip and trendy places in London. Quite how she can afford this with no real source of income is beyond me. But I guess that is the beauty of the show, presenting an enviable lifestyle. My final gripe is the name of the show - Push? Really? What on earth does that represent? It sounds like something featuring a bike. Not sexy at all.  The promotion of the show has not been great and I only heard about it by chance on Twitter when DisneyRollerGirl retweeted a link to an interview in Media Week with Anna Jones, the digital and strategy director at Hachette who publish UK Elle. There were no adverts in Look, Company, Grazia and Stylist whose readers are the key audience. It is a shame really because Lydia's lifestyle is something that a lot of young women covet and I am sure it would be very popular if they were made aware of it. Still Rimmel London are sponsors of the programme

Push is aired on Fiver at 10pm on Wednesdays.