This trip to Kangaroo Island is pleasant enough, but the investigative reporter seems lost when tackling something that doesn’t feature exploitation or outrage
For years on BBC Three, Stacey Dooley equalled strife. Child labour, sexual exploitation, poverty, religious extremism, homelessness: all were ably tackled by a presenter who stood out for her lack of lofty TV-star pretension and her knack for asking the direct questions that were in audience’s minds.
Since winning Strictly Come Dancing in 2018, she has gone a bit more mainstream, so although the old Dooley is still around – she’s in the middle of a three-documentary run on BBC One, dealing with murder, suicide and addiction – she’s also doing fluffier personality work. Here she is on Channel 4, fronting the inoffensive schedule-filler Stacey Dooley’s Australia: Off the Beaten Track. You can’t say she hasn’t earned a break.