Is Buying London scripted? What we know about the new Netflix series

30 May 2024, 16:39

Buying London dropped on Netflix on the 22nd of May. Picture: Netflix

By Tiasha Debray

Netflix’s lavish new series Buying London has left a lasting impression on its viewers, with fans questioning whether the show is real or scripted.

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Netflix has dropped Buying London, the newest real estate reality show that’s a spin-off of Selling Sunset which has seen huge success around the world.

The formula of attractive and glamorous real estate agents, drama and jaw-dropping prices on luxurious homes most of us would never see the inside of in our entire lives worked perfectly for the Beverly Hills version of the show.

We’ve swapped Christine Quinn for Lauren Christy, Chrishell Stause for Rasa Bagdonaviciute, the Oppenheim twins for Daniel Daggers, however fans believe something was lost in translation when creating the UK’s version.

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The reviews are in and they’re extremely mixed, but the question on everyone’s lips is, is Buying London scripted or real?

Buying London's Lauren Christy was left contemplating leaving the agency. Picture: Getty

Is Buying London scripted or real?

Fans and reviewers alike seem to be under the impression that the show is scripted, the dialogue between characters has left them disappointed as it’s come across as forced and inauthentic.

One viewer took to X, formerly Twitter, and wrote: "Wow, #buyinglondon is worse than I expected. It is so obviously scripted and boring, one episode is more than enough."

Another wrote: "Hmmm #BuyingLondon has a lot of manufactured drama and [to be honest] I don’t know why they decided to go down this trajectory because it’s entirely unnecessary. A show centred around high ticket properties in London would have sufficed."

Whilst a third compared it to its American counterpart, "Buying London has nothing on Selling Sunset, it’s terrible, very scripted drama but decent background noise.”

The season focussed heavily on the feud between agents Lauren and Rasa. Picture: Netflix

Anita Singh’s review in The Telegraph also brought attention to the scripted nature of the show where she wrote: "You wonder how many of these houses the team actually sell because the production has such an air of unreality."

"It’s post-truth television. The people on screen aren’t reciting a script, they’ve just learned – through prolonged exposure to “scripted reality” shows – to actually speak like this.

"They know what is required of them. The whole thing plays out like one long Instagram reel."

So technically, no, the stars of the show aren’t reading scripts, however, it feels obvious that certain drama plotlines have been provided to guide conversations with one another and in doing so, may have been to the detriment of the show.

Buying London features a stellar cast. Picture: Netflix

Whilst that format of reality TV may work in The United States where we’ve been conditioned to accept that these reality stars ‘just sound like that,’ it doesn’t seem to translate to the United Kingdom.

The Guardian reviewed the series and wrote it was "probably the most hateable TV show ever made".

However, Netflix has taken the reviews in its stride and with a surprisingly funny ‘uno reverse’ type move, the streaming giant embraced the zero-star review from the publication and included it in their marketing.