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UK TV Alert! 27/11/08 - Jackson documentary in Devon

whereabouts are you? lol
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at the begining when fiddes is going on about being mj's b.G. fans running through the street in 2002 next to mjs car. red jacket green backpack picking up a fan from off the ground lol. ahhhh those were the days.lol that was a great trip and the only footage fiddes could use cause thats the only time he ever worked for mj LOL

theres was some nice footage though from what i guess u would call behind the scenes. so it was good to see that.
 
omg that documentary revealed, matts real character, this documentary really show how leaches like matt, try make money, preety decent, its funny how there was no paps around when matt was out of the picture, matt got disposed of nicely!
 
the programe was good timing aswell with the prince lawsuit. shows the type of ***hole that try to get in with the family and when they dont get what they want they get all bitchy and sue. sounds familiar
 
StarTrader said:
they're showing it again on c4+1 if any uk fans wanna watch it again.
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but it really isnt worth watchin to be honest

definitely a waste of an hour for me and another good reason why i never look at tv.....!
 
its worth it for the footage of hayvernhurst alone and taryll lol .the prograne is very random because it doesnt really focus on an actual subject it just shows what a leach fiddes is because the whole devon trip was basically a waste of time and a publicity event arranged by him for him. and its good that for once the media showed this. it can only help mj when ppl get to see waht lesser members of the family have to deal with let alone mj
 
It was good, obviously difficult to condense 5 weeks filming into an hour (+breaks).

It showed just what a lovely, close and very down to earth family they are, it is a shame the underlying story ended up being the betrayal by Matt Fiddes, and he showed at the end that he was just using his friendship to promote himself, and how nasty he became because Tito quite rightly cut him off. It seems to be the way things happen to the family, they make what they think are friends, allow them into their home and their life and when they discover they are being used, pull the plug only to have the 'friend' go after them for money. The other interesting bit was how his friend Uri Geller had called him at 3am telling him to come to his house now or he would regret it and when he got there Michael was there and that is how they met. Geller showing how he too used Michael.

People like us would feel honoured to even have a five minute conversation with them, and would never even consider using or betraying them, yet those fortunate enough to meet the family just use them.

Human nature can be horrible sometimes, Michael was right to stay away.
 
Human nature can be horrible sometimes, Michael was right to stay away.

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i doubt mj would have touched it with a barge pole anyway
whats the betting fiddes starts doing the media rounds in the coming days. u heard it here first lol
 
reviews thanks to midas. the show will prob be available on channel 4 site. or im sure someone will upload.

Reviews: "The Jacksons Are Coming"

http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/features/....Jackson_ville/

Jackson-ville

9:27am Thursday 27th November 2008

The Jacksons Are Coming (C4, 9pm)

WHEN the Jacksons invited director Jane Preston to make a film about their planned move to Devon, she must have thought all her Christmases had come at once.

Here was the rare chance to document the intimate details of the lives of one of the entertainment industry’s most famous, most controversial, most talked about families.

Of course, she must have done an initial double-take at the thought of the Jacksons wanting to live in a small Devon village with one fish and chip shop and not much else. A bit like Elton John announcing he was going to live in Easington.

Whatever Preston was expecting, it wasn’t what she got. Her Cutting Edge documentary is a salutary lesson on the pitfalls of fame and how, once you’re famous, finding people you can trust is a pretty hopeless task.

The villain of the piece, if you want to call him that (and, after seeing the programme, I think perhaps I do) is Matt, a 28-year-old martial arts expert who runs a chain of karate clubs across the country.

He already lives in the Devon village and became a friend of the Jacksons after being introduced to Michael Jackson by spoon-bender Uri Geller at the age of 17.

Whenever he came to this country, he asked Matt to be his bodyguard.

He’s found the Jacksons a holiday home, which they’re renting for five weeks while searching for property in Devon.

Everything seems hunky-dory as various members of the Jackson clan, led by bowler-hatted Tito and matriarch Katherine, arrive at the airport in this country. Then they see the paparazzi waiting to snap their every move. This isn’t the quiet, unpublicised visit Tito was looking forward to and had requested.

Who could have tipped off the press?

The media frenzy continues. When the family try to look round the village, they’re forced to take shelter from the press in a cafe. To their credit, the family are professional and friendly to everyone who approaches them, despite not being happy with the situation.

The media frenzy causes Mrs Jackson to call son Michael and warn him not to come to Devon.

The tension between Tito and Matt is obvious, notes Preston, as she continues to film the family’s property search and pap-dodging.

The final straw is a negative story in a tabloid paper – THE ‘FREAK CIRCUS’ COMES TO TOWN is the headline – in which Matt is quoted.

An upset Tito says on camera: “I’ve been around a long time, I know exactly where it comes from.”

Preston asks Matt if he’s been leaking stories to the press. He denies the accusation.

It certainly looks as if someone is telling reporters and photographers the Jacksons’ schedule. The house-hunting gets lost amid all the dodging of cameras and bad feeling between Tito and Matt that ends with a threatened court case.

If only the Jacksons had asked Location Location Location’s Phil and Kirstie for help in their home-hunting, they might have done a lot better.


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http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol...icle5247250.ece




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http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertai...c4-1038409.html

Last Night's Television: The Jacksons are coming, Channel 4

By Deborah Orr
Friday, 28 November 2008

I don't know how, but the whole Jackson-clan-moving-to-Devon thing passed me by.

When someone mentioned The Jacksons Are Coming, a documentary about the Jacksons moving to Devon, I thought maybe it was the Jacksons from EastEnders – although that's going back a bit – or some other Jackson family that had fallen for the charms of Kirstie Allsopp. But it really was the actual Jacksons, as the opening footage of the original Five, on stage in their loon pants, and described in the voice-over as "one of the most famous and intriguing families in showbusiness", confirmed.

How did this happen? What possessed the Jacksons to imagine that they could quietly relocate to Appledore, leaving sunny California behind? And what possessed them to believe that this quiet relocation could best be achieved under the eye of a camera? Or who possessed them? A 27-year-old multimillionaire martial-arts expert called Matt Fiddes possessed them. The little git.

It all started, Matt explained, when he got a 3am call from Uri Geller, his spoon-bending friend when he was 17, saying that if he didn't drive over to Uri's house right now, he'd regret it for the rest of his life. So Matt drove over, and at 5am made the acquaintance of Michael Jackson. That, for me, was weird enough. Like tout le monde, I know that Uri is Michael's great friend. But what sort of great friend hits the phone in the middle of the night, inviting people to drop by to have a gawp at their celebrity houseguest? Inevitably, Michael was thrilled to meet Matt, rather than regretful that he'd ever known Uri, and 10 years on, Matt was on the telly, explaining that he was best mates with the whole family, and especially close to Tito, the Jackson Five's guitarist. "They're not strange," said Matt. "They're the nicest guys on earth." Matt had persuaded the family to move to Devon because it was quiet, with "less media than in the city". He wanted to show them that they could live a normal life and "fit in".

All this was explained to Jane Preston, a documentary-maker who'd somehow been identified by someone as a suitable video diarist, for reasons never disclosed. When Preston got to California to film the leave-taking, Tito revealed that he was "a boater and a fisherman" and wanted to pursue these hobbies in Appledore, with his family around him. He revered this as-yet-unseen village in much the way that Yeats did the Lake Isle of Innisfree, but without the turn of phrase.

Tito also revealed that the giraffe that used to roam around in the two-acre yard at the family home had been "a tall guy", and that his former wife Didi, mother of this three sons, had been a wonderful girl who had not deserved to be stabbed to death by her boyfriend. The man was an open book.

The heart-breaking thing about this family, or the few of them silly enough to be beguiled by Tito's enthusiasm, anyway, was that they did indeed seem to be "the nicest guys on earth", maintaining a naive capacity for trust and a polite wish to be helpful, all the way through this odd and excruciating film. As the trip, and the plan, fell apart, so did Tito's friendship with Matt. As he stared at the umpteenth "freak show" spread in a tabloid, Tito said: "I came here with peace in my heart, not to be battered."

After Tito had packed up and fled – handwashing all his pants and drying them in the sun first, because his mother had always taught him "don't bring dirty underwear home" – Matt announced that he was suing Tito, because he owed him some money he'd spent on arranging the terrible trip. The film made being a Jackson seem like the loneliest and most awful job on the planet. The problem would appear to be, quite simply, that none of them is cut out to cope with fame.

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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml.../bvtv28last.xml

Last night on television: The Jacksons Are Coming (Channel 4)

Last Updated: 12:01am GMT 28/11/2008

By Robert Collins

Resembling a comic fantasia dreamt up by Leigh Francis for his bizarre sketch show Bo’ Selecta!, the Jackson Five spent five weeks this summer property-hunting in Devon, hoping to find a new Jackson family headquarters. The Jacksons? In Devon? Where would they house their pet llamas and giraffes? Where would they park their fleet of expensive cars?

In the end, though, it made perfect, preposterous sense. “I’m a boater, I’m a fisherman,” Tito Jackson confessed to Jane Preston in her compelling, bittersweet documentary The Jacksons Are Coming (Channel 4) as he drove her round Los Angeles in his spanking Bentley. “I love being near the water.” So there it was. Surely there would be nowhere better for the reputedly wackiest family on earth to escape the celebrity-sozzled vapidity of LA than Britain’s bracing, salty-aired seaside.

Given the Jacksons’ watchability, Preston simply had to point, shoot, and observe the amusing juxtaposition of this glamorous American showbusiness family and homely southwestern England. The reason for their choice of Devon was the family’s friend and former bodyguard to brother Michael, Matt Fiddes, a 28-year-old, Devon-dwelling, ponytail-wearing owner of a successful chain of karate clubs. Fiddes, we saw, is the kind of guy who likes to practise roundhouse kicks while wearing full karate kit and a chunky gold watch. “I want to give them a taste of the normal life and show them that they can fit in,” Fiddes announced magnanimously before the Jacksons arrived (minus Michael, who didn’t take part in the move).

And so it almost worked. Preston captured the endearing, absurd sight of Tito and Jackie — plus an entourage of sons, cousin, mother and a teeming coterie of bodyguards laid on by Fiddes — enjoying a perfectly normal day out in Devon, as they popped down the high street for fish and chips. “Tito Jackson? Holy crap!” spluttered a passer-by. “Where’s Toto?” an excited elderly lady asked when she thought Michael Jackson might be moving to town.

Preston had been invited onto the Five Go Mad in Devon jolly by the Jacksons themselves, to whom she paid a “modest filming fee”. Too damn modest, in the opinion of the family’s curmudgeonly patriarch Joe Jackson. Luckily, the Jacksons left grumpy Joe to grouch at home while they went off to sun themselves in Devon.

Without exception, the Jacksons came across as a faultlessly wholesome, close-knit clan. Before leaving California, Mrs Jackson asked Preston if she might need a coat. “I’d take a coat, and maybe a cardigan,” Preston urged her. The Jacksons were beginning to seem like the most normal family imaginable.

Then they arrived in Devon, the promised land of normality. They entered their holiday home to find a cosy reception party of 20 security guards arranged by Fiddes, all wearing jackets displaying the logo from Fiddes’s karate clubs. Relations between Tito and Fiddes began their downward lurch.

Tito’s love for Fiddes hit its nadir when Fiddes asked him to attend one of his karate training sessions. Tito obliged, and appeared in white karate outfit, together with a black bowler hat.

“You and me have got to talk about this hat thing,” snapped Fiddes.

“That’s too bad,” came Tito’s reply. “I’m never losing the hat.” Then, in front of the class of Devonian martial arts students, Fiddes insisted on Tito addressing him as “sir”. To which Tito bristled good-humouredly: “I’m going to kick his butt later for making me say that.”

By the end of the film, Fiddes and Tito were no longer speaking, and Fiddes was issuing a third-party debt order against Tito. So the Jacksons didn’t move to Devon after all. Which, on the evidence of Preston’s fond glimpse of the Jacksons’ sweet, patient nature, was Devon’s loss.

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2008/nov/28/television

Last night's TV

o Lucy Mangan
o guardian.co.uk, Friday November 28 2008 00.01 GMT

The Jacksons Are Coming (Channel 4) is the story of the few weeks this summer that the family of Michael Jackson spent househunting in the West Country. One presumes that the obvious title of Five Go Mad in Devon had to be nixed for legal reasons.

But as the film unfolds, the viewer is forced to consider the possibility that the Jacksons are entirely sane and it is the rest of the world that is mad. And sometimes not just mad, but venal, greedy and vile. But that is to get ahead of ourselves.

First we meet their good friend and bodyguard for the past decade, martial arts expert and self-made millionaire Matt Fiddes, who was first introduced to the family by Uri Geller. (Oh, no, believe me, you ain't heard nothing yet.)

It was Matt who suggested (and I would have loved to hear the conversation in which the notion was first put forward, but alas the Cutting Edge crew arrive only once the wheels are in motion) that the Jackson clan leave their beautiful, sprawling family estate in sunny California and rent a house near him in Appledore, darkest Devon, for five weeks. From there they can search for a holiday home to which they can escape periodically, away from the media that has pursued them with energetic zeal for the past 40 years.

The Cutting Edge crew fly out to California to film the Jacksons' preparations for travel. The family patriarch, Joe, who ruled his children with an iron fist when they were Motown stars and seems unwilling to relinquish the post, bars their way to try and bump up the filming fee. He is quite terrifying. You feel sorry for the children, then and now.

Tito shows us around the estate. Michael bought the house from Joe in 1979, razed it to the ground and rebuilt it as his fantasy family home, which you have to hope gave the boy at least momentary satisfaction. Few get to work out their Oedipal issues with quite such elan. Giraffes and llamas used to roam around. "The giraffe was called Jabbar, after a very famous basketball player called Kareem Abdul-Jabbar," says Tito, softly. "I don't remember the llama's name." All the Jacksons speak softly and with unfailing courtesy. Except Joe.

"This used to be a candy store," whispers Tito, gesturing towards the toyshop filled with porcelain dolls. (Yes, the family estate had a candy store. Yes, it is now a Victorian-style toyshop. This is LA. This is the Jacksons. This is the Jacksons in LA.) "My father would tell Michael that if he bought 10 dollars' worth of candy, he should sell it for 12 or 15. But Michael, he would sell it to us cheaper because he just wanted the customers . . ." Tito smiles, but his eyes always look sad.

Tito, his brother Jackie, his mother, his three sons and his "best friend" Claudia, a 25-year-old model whom he treats with the sweet reverence of an awed schoolboy, eventually make it to Appledore, where the paparazzi seem to have been tipped off about their presence and their plans by Matt. The sense that their friend is using the family for his own ends increases as the weeks go by. The media continue to follow them, and Tito finds himself attending one of Matt's martial arts instruction classes, where Matt forces his friend to call him "sir". The family has a policy of never criticising people in public, and Tito cleaves to it. But eventually they withdraw from Matt and his suspected manipulations. The most Tito will say - softly - is: "You need to kill the weeds in your garden. That's one thing I learned from life. More weeds will come. They always do."

Although relations have broken down irretrievably between Matt and the Jacksons by the time the househunting holiday is over, in order not to disappoint their fans Tito and two of his sons turn up at the charity convention that Matt has organised for their final week. They endure a Michael Jackson impersonator - in a white rubber mask - and a painful singalong finale. It made you want to apologise for the whole country.

Tito returns to his rented home and starts washing his pants ("My mom always told me, don't bring your dirty underwear back with you") and packing for home. When he returns to LA, he learns that Matt is suing him for money he allegedly lent to the family for the move. Tito denies the allegations.

The Jacksons are odd. But on this showing, they are mostly oddly dignified, oddly resigned and oddly tolerant of a life that has evidently been strewn with betrayals, disloyalty and exploitation on all sides. The brothers all have the same wary, timorous air of beaten yet still hopeful dogs. In their insane world, they appear to have survived remarkably well.

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The Jacksons Are Coming told the strange tale of this summer's abortive attempt to move the clan to Appledore, a one-fish-and-chip-shop seaside town, to dip their toes in England's grey weather and grim housing market; even Michael was rumoured to be coming to Devon. Unsurprisingly, the expedition did not end well.

We could leave it at that, filing the film in the thick folder marked Michael Jackson documentaries. But it did shine a little unintentional light on the wider issue of privacy and celebrity. Where do you draw the line with those who rely on the media, but demand that it leave them alone? The Jacksons said that they were coming to Devon to escape media attention, yet brought along Jane Preston's crew to film the transatlantic caravan, to the chagrin of the Brit paparazzi. Their host, ponytailed martial arts entrepreneur Matt Fiddes, complained that the Jacksons felt “used” by the British media - in between giving TV interviews and quotes to the papers. No blunt instrument of a privacy law could sort this lot out.

And what is private and personal anyway when you are as famous as the Jacksons? We saw them fall out with “family friend” Fiddes (introduced by Michael's alleged mate Uri Geller) as Appledore turned out to be “crawling with cameras”. Tito's young “best friend” Claudia seemed keener to bathe in the family's reflected fame - “I'm like their youngest sister” - than risk the intimate relationship for which Tito painfully yearned. “You have so many phoneys,” said the 78-year old Jackson matriarch, “I get so I don't trust anybody.”

In the midst of this pseudo-madness, Tito came across (despite the wacky bowlers) as a surprisingly personable family man, upset by UK headlines branding them a “freak circus”. Dragged around spooky Devon piles with seven-figure price tags, he took fright at falling property values and went home to sunny California, saying little about the debacle apart from a cryptic remark about killing the weeds in your garden, and carefully packing clean smalls because his mother told him never to take his dirty underwear home. Or, it seems, to wash it in public, even when your personal film crew is on hand.

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Foxy.. said:
Just to change the subject slightly.. the song at the end of the docu sounded great! I loved the sound.
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Are you talking about the song during the end titles, or just towards the end as I noticed that a song called Stay by David Bowie (from his 1976 album Station To Station) played on the documentary.

A good documentary, mainly because it was pro Jackson family. I really dislike that Matt, he really needs a good beating that will cause him pain when he thinks about it. Not only did I dislike the fact he was two faced and exploiting his friendship with the Jackson's by co-operating with the media. But I actually found it quite uncomfortable viewing when he demanded that Tito remove his hat, and call him Sir during the karate lessons etc. The last interview with Matt showed what a vile peace of vermin his, with him saying he looks foward to giving Tito a 1 on 1 karate lesson, insinuating he wants to beat Tito up.

That Matt is disgusting, and just like Martin Bashir his connection to Michael is from an introduction by Uri Geller. That goodness that friendship between the Jackson's and Matt has ended, because that's the last of Uri Geller's connections who have done nothing but harm the Michael and his family.
 
i think they ment the song tito was singing in the studio

The last interview with Matt showed what a vile peace of vermin his, with him saying he looks foward to giving Tito a 1 on 1 karate lesson, insinuating he wants to beat Tito up.
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frankly from the way he was talking he was doing nothing less than threatening tito. and the look on his face and the tone of his voice pretty much summed up what a peices of crap he is.
 
Hi all, I believe thi is my second post here. After 5mins of looking at doc last night I put my hands to my face and thought, "here we go again, someone else trying to take advantage of Michael Family and Mikes name."

I am sure like me you'd like to send Matt a Christmas card. He is his contact details:
Corporate Offices

Riverside Unit 3,
Riverside Road,
Pottington Business Park,
Barnstaple, Devon
EX31 1QN

Franchise Enquiries UK

Telephone. 0800 0354 660
Email. office@mattfiddes.com

He claims on his site to have trained members of the Jackson family. His url is:
http://www.mattfiddes.com
 
i wouldnt give him the attention. so he can run to the media are talk about crazy mj fans
 
I believe you are right elusive moonwalker he would love to get more attention from the media. Guys like him make me sick. I thought the only true thing Matt said though was the have had too many "yes men" working for them in the past.

I'd love them to get a good manager and pr person, who'll bring them back to the top again.

I think Joe belongs in a mafia, he's always out for more money. Katherine is a sweatheart, and a woman I'd love to meet one day.
 
People like us would feel honoured to even have a five minute conversation with them, and would never even consider using or betraying them, yet those fortunate enough to meet the family just use them.
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Exactly. It is a damn shame. I remember reading somewhere that this Matt Fiddles guy met MJ in 2002. That is what I remember reading. However, this Matt clown has a credibility issue so I do not believe him. I mean he was Mike's bodyguard for like two seconds. LOL.

After reading these reviews, I did not understand why the Jacksons would leave their beautiful home in L.A. to rent some place in Devon. This Matt clown really wanted to put the Jackson family on blast and I am glad that it backfired. It showed the true colors of people like Matt. How they can used people and not even feel any kind of shame for doing so. I personally would never used anyone for my own selfish reasons. The comments about Joe's demeanor was..... kinda old. Like, are these people expecting Joe to change completely? No. So..... they need to let it go and move on. If he scare some folks, oh well. The man has been through a lot in his life so.... Overall, I am a bit disappointed that the show, according to what I read on here, ended regarding the mess that Matt created for the Jacksons. Yet, I am happy that the show did not treat them like complete crap. I am glad that people are seeing what they really go through and hopefully if anyone meets the Jacksons, that they would not used them for their own selfish reasons.

viewing when he demanded that Tito remove his hat, and call him Sir
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When I read that, it showed me how Matt Fiddles treats his elders - like crap. That was exteremly disrespectful. And Uri Guller is a damn monster. He has been nothing but a roach to MJ and his family.

I am sure like me you'd like to send Matt a Christmas card. He is his contact details:
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Why are you posting his crappy contact information on an MJ board? Have you not read this thread at all? It is clear as day that we all want nothing to do with Matt. Who wants to send that vile bastard anything? Please go and sit down with that trash.
 
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Exactly. It is a damn shame. I remember reading somewhere that this Matt Fiddles guy met MJ in 2002. That is what I remember reading. However, this Matt clown has a credibility issue so I do not believe him. I mean he was Mike's bodyguard for like two seconds. LOL.
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yeah he met mj in 2002 cause mj was involved with geller and going to exeter for a charity event.fiddes did the "security" for the event and ended up working for mj for a few days while he was in london. hes never worked for mj again. and tmk the claim about meeting mj through geller in or around 97 is B.S the first time he met him was in 02 when he went to gellers house. i dont think mj even knew geller on a personal level back in 97/98.
 
I felt like all of you when the documentary started i thought oh here we go again, but it changed to show what a vile and horrible person Matt Fiddes is. I had to laugh when he said he knew Mj when he was 17 i thought what a liar.

Thank God for Tito and Mummy Kate telling MJ not to come. It was great hearing Mike at the party.

But it just shows you what lengths people will go to use the Jackson name
 
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