Joe Wicks: Licensed To Kill Review – Tv So Vile You’ll Never Touch A Protein Bar Again

Well, that’s maine ne'er eating a macromolecule barroom again. Bars, shakes, powders and snack balls that committedness a short-cut to a muscle-building higher macromolecule intake represent possibly nan biggest food-retail arena of nan past decade. And macromolecule bars are astatine nan forefront of nan craze: this is doing america good, we show ourselves, arsenic we struggle to chew done a lump of uncanny matter that resembles a Mars barroom from a malfunctioning factory. After watching nan bracing campaigning documentary Joe Wicks: Licensed to Kill, that illusion will surely, for millions of consumers, beryllium shattered.

You cognize Joe Wicks, nan baby-faced, curly bobbed geezer who popped up during Covid lockdown and became a prima done his easy, affirmative attack to exercise, starring nan federation successful regular bursts of squats and prima jumps. Now, he’s going down nan Jamie Oliver way of utilizing his occurrence – we spot nan state location fame has bought him, and, boy, it’s a whopper – for bully by trying to shame nan authorities into tackling a nationalist wellness emergency.

Cooking up thing demonic … Joe Wicks and Dr Chris van Tulleken successful Joe Wicks: Licensed to Kill. Photograph: KEO Films

Protein bars are to Wicks what Turkey Twizzlers were to Oliver, for akin reasons: they are almost ever loaded pinch artificial additives, making galore of them what these days is called ultra-processed food. These things are conscionable not natural. The sweeteners and sticky gubbins that lurk wrong them person been linked to each sorts of wellness problems, from diarrhoea and different gut issues to an accrued consequence of stroke, cancer, and what this programme refers to, sweepingly but still frighteningly, arsenic “early death”.

This is existent moreover erstwhile nan additives are wrong ineligible limits, because those ineligible limits are truthful weak. Learning this has led Wicks to conceive a stunt that is admirable successful its deficiency of compromise: alternatively than conscionable politely inquire for regulations to beryllium tightened, Wicks plans to show really useless they are by designing, making, advertizing and trading a macromolecule barroom that is intentionally harmful to nan wellness of those who eat it.

For this task he teams up pinch TV wellness journalist Dr Chris van Tulleken, who for these purposes resides successful a laboratory bunker, lit successful acold bluish and adorned pinch shelves afloat of mysterious achromatic powder and inscrutable clear liquid. The evil-professor vibes mightiness beryllium theatrical, but it’s evident that Van Tulleken’s anger astatine nan emergence of what he calls “industrially produced edible substances” – he thinks “food” is simply a generous misnomer – is thing but. As he likens nan prevalence of ultra-processed foods to nan corporate wishful thinking of nan mid-20th century, erstwhile nan populace believed smoking was safe because companies who sold cigarettes had arranged for them to deliberation that, he is visibly a man astatine nan extremity of his patience.

The duo’s appraisal of nan protein-bar and processed-food manufacture does not clasp back. Numerous celebrated brands are mentioned by name. Nor do they judge half measures arsenic they statement successful an master successful food-product development, 1 of respective manufacture whistleblowers who will thief them on nan way, to make nan worst imaginable barroom that tin still legally beryllium described arsenic offering wellness benefits.

With nan demon barroom made – trading boffins travel up pinch nan cutely double-edged marque sanction “Killer” – nan movie takes a fascinating turn. Wicks, understandably, wobbles astatine nan imaginable of going done pinch nan strategy and knowingly foisting poison connected nan public. The unit astatine Wicks HQ person to motion waivers earlier they taste-test nan bar; his lawyer, a master successful getting these things to market, says nan Killer is legally good but not thing she would eat herself. Smiling, bouncing Joe Wicks faces a spiky ethical dilemma. Those YouTube videos wherever he did a spot of ray aerobics consciousness a agelong measurement away. But Wicks still remembers increasing up successful poverty, and eating junk nutrient without nan intends aliases knowledge to bargain thing better. He is torn.

Totally torn … Joe Wicks and Dr Chris van Tulleken request to determine whether they tin tummy feeding group nan ‘killer’ barroom they cognize to beryllium harmful. Photograph: Anthony Harvey/Shutterstock for Channel 4

Van Tulleken puts him straight. “We person to deliberation successful revolutionary terms,” he says, not successful nan slightest perturbed by a comparatively mini number of group perchance ingesting carcinogens astatine his behest for nan use of nan cause. Suddenly, Licensed to Kill, pinch its unabashed anger astatine rampant commercialism and its belief that nan problem has gone acold capable to request radical, moreover reckless governmental action, feels for illustration it mightiness beryllium portion of thing wider than an statement astir snack food.

At least, it will beryllium erstwhile it’s a complete story. Frustratingly, nan show ends abruptly conscionable arsenic Killer goes to market, pinch nan fallout of that to beryllium covered successful an as-yet unscheduled follow-up. But nan basal constituent has been made, pinch force. If Licensed to Kill leaves you quiet for more, possibly person an pome aliases a fistful of nuts.

• Joe Wicks: Licensed to Kill is connected Channel 4 now.