13 July '10

“Ambitious…What you need to sustain interest is a stellar cast of knowns and unknowns, a plot with more tangles than an Astrakan rug and a neat thought-provoking concept to tie it all together. The Silence certainly has all that.”
Matt Baylis, Daily Express

“Watchable enough but fell a little way short of riveting, largely on account of its dispiritingly familiar terrain. The clichés pile up like scripts on the floor of a commissioning editor’s office…for all its deficiencies, The Silence has enough going for it to sustain the interest of those of us who invested our time in episode one.”
Brian Viner, The Independent

“The reason it sung was the utterly authentic picture painted between the blurs. This opener made me want to watch the next three; but to also write a romantically worded letter to whoever is in charge of the licence fee debate…how many more Dives and The Silences can we expect?”
Alex Hardy, The Times

“It’s worth going along with, because there’s a pacy thriller in here…All these actors are eclipsed by Genevieve Barr’s mesmerising performance as Amelia. She is understated and natural, totally convincing.”
Sam Wollaston, The Guardian

“A lovely job on the way the cinema in particular has peddled stock images of his native American South. I enjoyed all this more than anything I’ve watched for ages. Mighty fine stuff.”
Brian Viner, The Independent

“In 90 minutes he skilfully tore down the preconceptions of America’s Deep South…Ten-gallon hat off, and Jack Daniel’s raised, to Hall.”
Alex Hardy, The Times

“Our presenter wanted to get to the root of all this anger but his choice of scapegoats was interesting…Islam escaped unscathed and the blame was laid squarely at the door of Western, evangelical Christianity. There is, frankly, so much wrong with that approach that it barely deserves airtime.”
Matt Baylis, Daily Express

“The result of the World Cup: Chiles 1, Lineker 0.”
Sam Wollaston, The Guardian