Times of Malta published a review of highlights of the 23 years long Xarabank TV show run: “The Friday after winning the 2008 general election, Lawrence Gonzi made a full appearance on Xarabank, analysing election results and surveys putting more of the PN’s electoral manifesto to the public.”
In the moments after being elected leader of the Labour Party, a Xarabank journalist asked Muscat whether he would be on Xarabank next Friday, to which he promptly replied, “yes, of course”.
Ahead of the 2013 general election, Muscat was also the subject of a popular day-in-the-life video which aired on Xarabank, introducing his wife Michelle and then infant twin daughters to the public at large.
Gonzi and Muscat frequently tousled on the program and in the run-up to the 2013 election, Xarabank dedicated a full episode to a leadership debate between the two.
On the former prime minister’s own suggestion, in 2002 the Xarabank team interviewed Dom Mintoff in an outside broadcast in his hometown of Cospicua.
The show also regularly tackled social issues, perhaps most prominently in the debate leading up to the referendum on divorce. The “yes or no” question was put to members of parliament, leading to loud and hot arguments between the camps.
Despite often facing criticism for its lack of nuance, Xarabank was also one of the first television programmes to feature the experiences of Maltese gay couples in 2008 and how some resorted to living overseas in order to get married.
Another highly viewed episode is Xarabank’s interview with Simon Bugeja, the only survivor of the Simshar shipwreck tragedy which claimed the lives of four people, including Bugeja’s father Karmenu and his 11-year-old son Theo. Bugeja captured the public’s sympathy on Xarabank as he tearfully recounted his son’s final moments reciting the rosary and the act of contrition as they became increasingly desperate and fearful that no rescue would come.
In 2012, one of Xarabank’s most highly viewed episodes was one dedicated to Carmen Camilleri, the sister of seven-year-old Valletta murder victim Twannie Camilleri. Twanny and Carmen’s parents, Ġiġa and Leli were convicted for the boy’s murder on the strength of then seven-year-old Carmen’s testimony.However, on her Xarabank appearance revisiting the scene of the crime, Carmen recanted her testimony and declared her parents innocent, a fact that served to incense the public as well as its insinuation that the killer was still at large.
Xarabank also famously entertained its own version of the satanic panic, dedicating a number of episodes to the discussion of satanism, giving airtime to exorcists and people who claimed to have had a close brush with the occult.
The programme also found ways to stroke controversy in unconventional ways, with its interviews on sex and relationships often going viral, such as the time a counsellor explained that research indicated Maltese people watched more pornography during general elections.
Xarabank was always in touch with its philanthropic side, helping bring to prominence the story of Bjorn Formosa, who spearheaded activism for sufferers of ALS in Malta and helped raise hundreds of thousands of euros for care homes dedicated to people suffering from ALS.
Xarabank Highlights written by Jessica Arena (Times of Malta)
