1 October, '09

“The really vital question was answered, in passing, by the twins themselves: yes, two sets told us, they do find looking at other twins as fascinating as we singletons do. Excellent. I have always wanted to know.”
Lucy Mangan, The Guardian

“I’d normally prefer the science, even if it is TV science, conducted in a big London park at a mass gathering of identical twins, to the emotion-tweaking aspects of the subject but last night’s episode was strung around a story few could have viewed with a hard heart.”
Matt Baylis, Daily Express

“Its 60-minute duration could have been crunched down to: ‘Twins share genetic characteristics, but the extremity of their mutual identification can be tempered by regulating the environment around them’. Still, it was fascinating and odd, in a Stepford kind of way.”
Tim Teeman, The Times

“Another of the BBC’s attempts to send us with a bit of top-spin into a national bout of Seasonal Affective Depression… In some ways this was an object lesson in how to make an unsatisfactory programme beautifully.”
Tom Sutcliffe, The Independent

“This could have been fascinating, lyrical and moving; but instead it darted here and there, hoping that the depth of its theme… would somehow excuse away its own uneven and unfulfilled ambitions.”
Tim Teeman, The Times

“Brought the night’s viewing neatly full circle by making the viewer long for death. Nurse, please flip the switch.”
Lucy Mangan, The Guardian

“Instead of going into filthy, appallingly run hotels and having a battle with lunatic management, the expert hospitality guru goes into hotels that actually haven’t started up yet and gives grateful novices the benefit of her considerable experience. So, is the latter as funny, or interesting or rewarding, to watch as the former? Four stars if you can guess.”
Matt Baylis, Daily Express

“Despite using familiar tricks (everyone’s on a ‘journey’, the voiceover is acid-trip perky), it drags horribly.”
Tim Teeman, The Times

“Panorama laid bare the box-ticking, corner-cutting and buck passing of our health service.”
Lucy Mangan, The Guardian