05 March '10

“Didn’t shy away from making judgements on its subject but there was an uncomfortable current of laughter right the way through it.”
Matt Baylis, Daily Express

“Another documentary on exactly the same subject on BBC1 Tuesday night. The BBC documentary adopted the pose of pretending not to be that interested, of being above the car-crash pile-up of secrets and lies, and taking a wry look sideways at it. The Channel 4 documentary shared the same inclination under the pretext of wanting to find out whether the stories had been accurately presented.”
Tim Teeman, The Times

“We followed the journalists behind these tales, and got to see the consequences of their reporting.”
Alice-Azania Jarvis, The Independent

“Marathon Man was buried alive quite late at night on BBC3, but if you missed it, there are two more episodes. To say he did it for Sports Relief is true up to a point. The real reason is harder to fathom.”
Nancy Banks-Smith, The Guardian

“The popping of Izzard’s blisters was possibly even more extreme than the most embarrassing of Embarrassing Bodies.”
Andrew Billen, The Times

“If this entertaining film intended to show the inner life of the charismatic art-Svengali, then it was dome from the start; as one long-term acquaintance suggested, Mr de Pury has send so much time-playing a certain part there’s no longer any difference between him and it.”
Matt Baylis, Daily Express

“Or ‘I spent all my money on refurbishment and now I’m on telly’. The former hotelier Ruth Watson is back…Judging from last night’s episode, this series is unlikely to diverge from the tried-and-trusted formula. Ruth arrives, her ways are met with resistance, she prevails, everyone’s happy.”
Alice-Azania Jarvis, The Independent