24 June '11

“This new version is perfectly compelling in its own right. From the joyfully energetic opening scenes to the slightly corny ending as Fiona’s new beau cooked the family breakfast, it holds the attention every bit as much as the original.”
Alice-Azania Jarvis, The Independent

“Well, Macy may be a big star but he’s not nearly as good as David Threlfall. He simply doesn’t convince as an alcoholic – he’s too polished, too Hollywood, not shambolic and hopeless enough. He looks too Hollywood as well. And it’s the same with all of them: their teeth are too good, they’re too damn glam – look at Emmy Rossum (it’s hard not to, to be honest) as Fiona, she’s perfect.”
Sam Wollaston, The Guardian

“Last night Macy gave such a thespish account of a shambolic person that it was hard to believe Frank was at the mercy of forces – economic, personal, narcotic – beyond his control or ken.”
Andrew Billen, The Times

“It tells the fascinating story of the battle for survival between Homo sapiens and these other ancient upstanding hominids, and how the eruption of a super volcano contributed to their downfall.”
Sam Wollaston, The Guardian

“Interspersed between bits of expert commentary and clipped RP narration was a reconstruction of life on the Indian sub-continent in the wake of Mount Toba’s eruption 75,000 years ago. There, we learned, the incumbent erectus population was joined by a steady trickle of wandering sapiens, both humans, but with differing abilities and evolutional quirks.”
Alice-Azania Jarvis, The Independent

“I love the way that, even though it’s spectacularly unglamorous – all local archives and meetings in church halls – the narrator reads the script like it’s an episode of 24. And I especially love the fact that it stars three brilliant, intelligent women – Professor Sue Black, Dr Xanthe Mallett and Dr Caroline Wilkinson – doing brilliant, intelligent things.”
Alice-Azania Jarvis, The Independent

“It’s hard to pinpoint where the recent past turns into history but we can’t put on sackcloth and ashes for every stack of bones unearthed by investigators.”
Matt Baylis, The Express

“When the pair climbed the first mountain of their mammoth journey Luke got straight on the telephone to his partner instead of doing high-fives with his walking buddy. From here on it was all downhill in more ways than one.”
Matt Baylis, The Express