As far as characters, storylines, and production quality are concerned, the "Monarch of the Glen" is indistinguishable from virtually every other British series. What makes it repugnant is the basic premise - that of an English aristocratic family claiming to be "Highland chiefs".
This is based on a small group of ageing Englishmen in the UK given titles like "Lord" or "Chief of the name" by none other than the British court(!), while genuine MacDonalds are conveniently exiles in Canada, Australia and New Zealand, partly due to the actions of the ancestors of these faux chiefs. Anything that celebrates this pompous, triumphalist group of people who seem to think Queen Victoria is still on the throne is highly offensive. Worse still, fake and sanitised "history" of "Clan MacDonald" has occasionally been presented on the programme, in one episode from a silly man with an aristocratic English accent wearing a grotesque tacky fake plaid get-up.
If there were a series like this in the USA or Canada showing a cadre of arrogant Ivy-league educated WASPs purporting to be "Red Indian Chiefs" marching around in commercialised fake "Indian feathers", plastic moccasins and stainless steel tomahawks downplaying such history as the Trail of Tears, it would get the intense criticism and legal challenges it deserves - and probably never have a second show, let alone season. Sadly, equivalent rubbish is allowed to flourish in the UK.
This is based on a small group of ageing Englishmen in the UK given titles like "Lord" or "Chief of the name" by none other than the British court(!), while genuine MacDonalds are conveniently exiles in Canada, Australia and New Zealand, partly due to the actions of the ancestors of these faux chiefs. Anything that celebrates this pompous, triumphalist group of people who seem to think Queen Victoria is still on the throne is highly offensive. Worse still, fake and sanitised "history" of "Clan MacDonald" has occasionally been presented on the programme, in one episode from a silly man with an aristocratic English accent wearing a grotesque tacky fake plaid get-up.
If there were a series like this in the USA or Canada showing a cadre of arrogant Ivy-league educated WASPs purporting to be "Red Indian Chiefs" marching around in commercialised fake "Indian feathers", plastic moccasins and stainless steel tomahawks downplaying such history as the Trail of Tears, it would get the intense criticism and legal challenges it deserves - and probably never have a second show, let alone season. Sadly, equivalent rubbish is allowed to flourish in the UK.