18 Aug '11

“It’s hard to know whether Pendle acquired its air of menace from its connection with the witch trials described in Simon Armitage’s film or whether its brooding topography helped give rise to the panic in the first place.”
Tom Sutcliffe, The Independent

“As a backbone for a weird and thrilling story, Armitage’s argument served its purpose but far more fascinating than the whole science-versus-magic debate was the character of Jennet.”
Matt Baylis, The Express

“It was as though Tim Burton himself were doodling away on my television screen: the sunken-eyed beggar girl, her distraught mother and the miserable prisoners in their tiny dank cell. Brilliant.”
Sarah Vine, The Times

“It was all beautifully filmed, though, and a great piece of marketing for Heligan. The only off notes were the chainsaw – the voiceover was adamant that all the gardening practices were just as they had been in the estate’s Georgian heyday – and owner Tim Smit saying he would die of boredom if he was doing the gardening. These were also the bits that felt most real.”
John Crace, The Guardian

“J K Rowling was less easily amazed by the basics of genealogy, but even so her programme had a very respectable OMG figure. We got one when she discovered that her maternal great-grandfather shared a birthday with her (and so, by extension, with Harry Potter), another when she found out that he’d won the Croix de Geurre for a heroic rearguard action during the First World War.”
Tom Sutcliffe, The Independent

“It was her [Rowling’s] realisation that hers was a lineage upheld and nurtured by a long line of tough, resourceful single mother that got to the heart of her.”
Sarah Vine, The Times

“It’s quite a coup for the Beeb to get Rowling on the show – understandably, she generally tried to avoid publicity during the peak Potter years – and when you do have the world’s bestselling story-teller, it probably makes sense to let her tell the story she wants. And a very good story it proved to be.”
John Crace, The Guardian