I have no doubt that most of what is described and depicted in this documentary is true. The superficial facts of the drug trade have been well-known for a long time. Furthermore, the purpose of the miniseries is ostensibly admirable--to address the disconnect between the glamour and cool of cocaine use and the harsh, cruel reality of how the drug is produced and distributed. Paradoxically, though, because of the clumsy way in which Gordon Ramsay on Cocaine was created, it becomes hard to take the subject matter seriously.
The edit very clearly shows only the "juicy" bits. I guess you could call it "fast-paced" if you were generously inclined, but the whole thing comes across as grossly hamfisted. For example: in the first episode, a police representative sketches on a map how cocaine moves across the world to get to Britain. Chunks of the clip are plainly edited out to focus on only a few parts of the trade. In the second episode, the same clip is used again--this time even more heavily edited to give the impression that Colombia (the country Ramsay visits to ooh and aah at the brutality of the drug's production) is the sole source of Britain's cocaine.
Ramsay seems to do his best to sound gruffly severe, but his stilted staccato delivery just adds to the cheesy docu-soap atmosphere, and much of the time he is clearly too wrapped up in his own excitement to even maintain a critical tone. It doesn't help that the camera often seems more interested in Ramsay's reactions than the subject matter. It's hard not to find this reality-TV style presentation a bit of a mockery of the desperation and ruthlessness many scenes depict.
The topic of illegal drugs such as cocaine is a deeply complex sociopolitical issue every step of the way--rife with misery, corruption and political callousness. It could easily fill up several seasons of a documentary series. The fact that the production team thought it was a good idea to blitz through it all in one and a half hour of action clips and shallow five-minute interviews should tell you everything you need to know about this documentary.
Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe this is the way to get people who usually never think about the consequences of cocaine use to realise the devastation the trade causes, but I doubt it. Telly isn't real life. You turn it off and go about your business--regardless of whether that involves taking cocaine.
If you want the long and short of it: don't do cocaine--it's bad for you and it's horrible for nearly all the people involved in its production and distribution. If you want to know more, go read a book about it or watch something that actually delves into the specifics and sociopolitical intricacies of the drug trade. Don't watch this--it will tell you very little you don't already know.
