26 April '11

“This amounted to a comprehensive demolition of the idea of miracles.”
Matt Baylis, The Express

“For every person that Brown has made sceptical about faith healing, he may also have made another sceptical about the TV tricks he used to pull in Nathan, and us.”
Alex Hardy, The Times

“It wasn’t entirely clear why Brown felt it necessary to go to such trouble to turn an ordinary member of the public – the very likable Nathan – into a fake faith healer and take him to America to see if he could fool a bunch of gullible Texans, who have already proved they are happy to be taken in by their own fake faith healers. It was moderately entertaining, if a bit overlong, but a waste of Brown’s – and Nathan’s – talents.”
John Crace, The Guardian

“Constance’s reasons for the murder of a four-year-old boy were explained but they never quite chimed with what we’d seen of her or her family.”
Matt Baylis, The Express

“What a shame its substance didn’t match up to its beautiful 1860s styling.”
Alex Hardy, The Times

“By merging fact and fiction, something Summerscale was scrupulous to avoid, and writing the story almost entirely from Whicher’s imagined perspective, Summerscale’s own suspicions somehow became less of an afterthought and more compelling.”
John Crace, The Guardian

“McKay’s script was good, James Hawes directed with a sure feel for suspense, and the acting was first-rate.”
Brian Viner, The Independent

“This wasn’t a perfect documentary; it didn’t seem to know how much poignancy to squeeze out of Martin’s increasing deafness, for instance. But it afforded all kinds of joyful little pleasures, such as the spectacle of Sir George and Ringo listening, heads nodding appreciatively in time, to ‘Drive My Car’”.
Brian Viner, The Independent