Reality and fantasy clash and blur once more with the release of Sofia’s Diary, a show which originally was presented as part of the Bebo social network. In its original form users could log in and vote to how the show would go. Now, for the first time, Sony has released the show in the form of six, one half hour episodes, which should please fans of the show.

The basic premise is that Sofia has been sent to London to live with her father, his new wife and child. Sofia has also to attend a new school, where she tries to fit in and makes an enemy of one particular girl, add in her skanky job at her father’s place of employment and we have many branching points for Sofia to make decisions.

I presume that it was originally broadcast on Bebo in fairly short bursts, made to look like Sophia’s blog, this would account for the amount of filler that each episode seems to need, if nothing else the DVD will test how quickly you get sick of seeing random shots of London buses and pedestrians. Gathered together as episodes the show doesn’t work as well, especially compared to a show like Skins.

The show comes on two DVD’s. The first disc holds the first three episodes with the alternative endings. If you never got to see the ending you originally voted for, now's your chance to see how things would have worked out. The only extras on disc one are two trailers. Disc two, presumably series two, has episodes seven to nine, full to the brim with teenage angst. On the plus side there is an extra in the form of Sofia Confidential (7 min, 08 sec).

Apart from the chance for fans to see the alternative ending, I'm not really sure who would buy this. Although well intentioned, both the story and acting are to a level you would expect from children’s television, certainly a world away from its more entertaining cousin Skins. Having said that, it certainly deserves recognition for its innovation, having first been broadcast through Bebo following their first show Kate Modern, it will be interesting to see what other social networks get into streaming drama.

5

Charles Packer