Swingers, review: peep inside a British sex club proved genuinely eye-opening

A hot tub in the back garden. Pampas grass in the front garden. Women wearing ankle chains or toe rings too, if the myths were to be believed. These used to be clues that your suburban neighbours were secretly into wife-swapping.

Nowadays it seems no such signifiers are needed. Rather than dropping their car keys in a bowl, the nation’s swingers simply drive to a club just off the A5 near Rugby. Out the front was ample parking but a distinct lack of pampas grass.

Swingers (Channel 4) was a surprisingly sweet film about one of the UK’s most popular fetish and swingers’ clubs, Liberty Elite. Boasting more than 12,000 members, it was “the go-to place for non-monogamous couples and randy singles craving no-strings sex with strangers”.

There are apparently 1.5m Britons “on the scene” and similar clubs are located in most major towns and cities. “There might be one on your doorstep without you realising,” said Liberty Elite’s manager, Chanelle, somewhat ominously. “People have misconceptions. They think it’ll be dirty old men perving over women. They’re quite surprised when they walk into a posh wine bar.”

There were plenty of bare bodies and explicit scenes for those that enjoy that sort of thing ,but this observational documentary opened in endearingly low-key style, with Chanelle and housekeeper Diane clearing up from an event the night before. Henry the Hoover looked like he’d seen some sights.

As they phlegmatically picked up discarded lingerie and laundered bed linen, the women noted drily that 170 people had been “queuing up like they were waiting for a bus”. They were keen to stress that Liberty Elite members were just normal folk. “They’re as nice as the people you meet going to Asda,” said Diane. “Or Morrison’s.”

This tone of a tongue-in-cheek mockumentary by Peter Kay or Victoria Wood increased when we met the club’s proprietor, 78-year-old gent John. The twinkly old rogue had been swinging for 50 years but was now down to “two or three times per week”. He proudly showed viewers around his premises, pointing out the various jacuzzis, bondage beds and erotic artwork.

Cameras followed both staff and punters preparing for the annual Valentine’s Ball, one of the club's busiest nights of the year. Because what could be more romantic than some light S&M in Leicestershire? Chanelle laid on a double entendre-heavy buffet of chipolatas and prawn rings. “Fanny Craddock, eat your heart out,” she deadpanned.

When we met Justin and Hannah, they were tidying up their children’s Lego before hopping in their Vauxhall estate and nervously driving off for their first visit to Liberty Elite. Simon and Carolyn were more seasoned swingers. He was amusingly judgmental about prospective partners’ poor grammar on wife-swapping websites. “We want someone who can use full punctuation properly,” said Simon. “A semi-colon would be orgasmic.”

Lone women are known as “unicorns”, such is their rarity on the swinging scene. One such was single mother Malika, a lap dancer who’d turned her back on romantic relationships. There was also 67-year-old Siobhan, who had her own “playroom” at home and described herself as a “florist by day, porn star by night”. Her pet cat looked on slightly despairingly.

Once the Valentine’s bash got underway, it was a feast of stilted small-talk and unwise tattoos. Justin and Hannah got left out of the action and had a tearful row. Simon and Carolyn didn’t find what they were seeking either, so repaired to their hotel room for a consoling cup of tea.

More happily, proceedings veered into dating show territory when 34-year-old divorcee Martyn chatted up Malika and took her to bed - once they’d gently got rid of Siobhan, who’d been something of a gooseberry during their flirtation. The well-suited couple shyly admitted that they might even see each other again.

The documentary showed the human reality beneath the swinging stereotypes. However, it only scratched the surface of the participants’ stories - not least the events that had brought them to Liberty Elite’s doors.

Hannah was bullied at school and had self-esteem issues, while Martyn had had his heart broken twice within four years. Malika had been controlled by an abusive, unfaithful partner. Saddest of all, Siobhan had been so badly traumatised by being raped in her teens that she didn’t have sex for 40 years. She’d now been ostracised by her family over her lifestyle choices.

Airing at 10pm on Channel 4, it was clearly intended to attract ogling viewers. Yet producer/director Tom Green avoided sensationalism or gratuitous titillation in favour of quiet observation and more intimate insights. The club seemed almost as much about companionship and community as it was about X-rated fare. As John concluded: “Swinging isn’t 100 per cent about sex. It’s slightly more than that. It’s little relationships all the time. I think that’s rather lovely.”