TV review: Tribesmen prove more noble than Blighty's natives

At first glance, Meet the Natives is one of those reality TV concepts that makes the heart sink.

Take five men from their traditional village life, on a remote South Pacific island in Vanuatu, to England to see how the white folks live and visit the Queen - or in the case of the men from Tanna, it's Prince Philip they are most interested in.

But, in a pleasantly surprising twist, the "Natives" of the title are not the islanders in their grass "penis sheaths" and with their, to us, bizarre conviction that the Duke of Edinburgh is a manifestation of their god, but the even more exotic inhabitants of Blighty.

To convince us this is really a bit of reverse anthropology, and not another reality telly exercise in pushing the boundaries of bad taste as we all have a laugh at the doings of "primitive" tribesmen, a video camera is placed in the hands of the islanders to record their experiences and the show is narrated by one of the five, JJ, who brings energy, charm and a natural talent to the job.

The show is in three parts, following the men from Tanna as they experience life with each of Britain's three main tribes: the upper, middle and working classes. In last night's opening episode, they were off to stay with fellow pig farmers, a nice, comfortable couple in rural Norfolk.

What was immediately impressive about these travellers was how open-minded they were, how courteous, eager to experience whatever was on offer and to make a connection with people. Look and learn, all those whingers from Airport and the likes.

Their comments were unfailingly interesting and, in the way of such studies, often told us more about the observers than the observed.

They marvelled at the huge size of Norfolk pigs. Witnessing the artificial insemination of sows left them feeling sorry for pigs. Pigs, like humans, they said should be allowed privacy to mate.

Indoors, they found the vacuum cleaner amusing but thought, overall, the English spent far too much time on cleaning and domestic chores, caused by having so many unnecessary things.

After a night at the pub they were relieved to see the English did have some communal life, although they wondered why the talk was so lacking in discussion of the important things.

Over the Sunday roast, one of the men inquired of his hosts whether they would mind if Prince Philip went to live with them on Tanna. This could have been a moment of cheap hilarity but somehow, in the context of the whole episode, it avoided that. And the question of whether the Tanna Islanders will get to meet the Prince is a compelling reason to keep you watching.

Meet the Natives is, like its close kin Tribal Wives, a show that, despite the high artifice of its set-up, does have documentary value. There is a more recent, Meet the Natives USA version screening on the National Geographic Channel. You feel it's begging, though, for a sequel, which takes a look at these intriguing people in their own environment. Or balances it by taking a bunch of Tanna women to pass comment on the strange ways of the West.

What is hard to avoid, however, is seeing these peace-loving islanders, with their disinterest in materialism and focus on the value of human relationships and nature, purely in terms of the old European cliche of the noble savage-savant.