TalkTV presenters Isabel Oakeshott and Ian Collins sparked outrage among viewers after broadcasting new footage of migrant boat crossings during a discussion of Oakeshott's team's latest investigation into the issue. The TalkTV exclusive showed a British man, Christian Drogan, crossing the Channel in a small boat.
Investigation reveals long journeys
Speaking as the footage was broadcast, Oakeshott explained: "People have this idea that they have...bolted from Eritrea directly to Calais or Dunkirk. Many of these journeys have taken them through countries where they've stayed for very long periods before making a choice to actually choose UK as their final destination, and it's very important to understand how exhausting and long drawn out those journeys are."
She added: "And the last leg of it...you you get pushed from pillar to post for weeks on end, which is why it was such a frustrating investigation, because whenever we just thought we might just be about to get a crossing...people smuggling would say, 'Oh, you know, a few more days', or the weather doesn't work out, and on and on it goes."
Claims of French police complicity
Oakeshott continued: "Now, this is important background because one of the big revelations from our work and this documentary is that we have witnessed and recorded, filmed the French police taking a number of so-called migrants off the boat before it began its journey into open water.
"And now the...pretence here, is that the people that they're taking off the boat have 'changed their minds'. [That] these are migrants that are feeling a little bit seasick in the shallower water. This is an absolute nonsense. And if the French don't realise this, then they're either extraordinarily stupid or they are secretly complicit."
She added: "Nobody who has spent months or years getting to this point where they're on a boat and they are within touching distance of a new life in the UK, where everything is provided, ain't nobody getting off that boat voluntarily. They are not going to change their minds.
"It's exactly what's happening here - that the traffickers don't want to have to bother making the whole round trip, so they get off the boat before it gets to open water, and the police are helping them do that."
Viewers react angrily
Oakeshott also detailed the violent background of many of the men who undertake the journey, acknowledging they "come from very difficult countries". She said: "There is no doubt that a lot of them come from horrific backgrounds, and...as a result, they're very desensitised to violence, almost to the point that a lot of these young men glorify it...Many have, as their WhatsApp screen savers or their WhatsApp pictures, they have themselves gun-toting. They have themselves wearing balaclavas."
Viewers took to X to express their fury. One wrote: "Anyone who thinks the goverment isn’t complicit is a f*****g idiot." Another raged: "The French are NOT our friends. It's that simple. They slash a boat once a year and take our money. They are f*****g laughing at us." A third chimed in: "France should pick up the whole bill for illegals failing to secure her boarders and get fined for all the migrants leaving in unsafe sea vessels..."
