27 April '11

“That the show is embarking on another series is testimony to its enduring appeal. By the time each episode finishes, we ache with the glorious sense that a better world is possible, that good may triumph. This feeling alone justifies our hour-long investment, as it did last night, when Sean Gallagher was dispatched to Middlesbrough with customary zeal. And even for a show as formulaic as this, his fitness for the role was exemplary.”
Amol Rajan, The Independent

“What were the chances of Sean, who has never properly grieved the death from epilepsy of his own sister more than 25 years ago, pitching up in Middlesbrough from London in the very week that a husband-and-wife epilepsy charity, operating out of their bedroom floor, has a flier for an Elvis impersonator fundraiser in the window of a small pub in a rundown part of town? And that Sean happened to walk by and see it? I’d guess this had all the hallmarks of great pre-planning by a Channel 4 researcher rather than coincidence.”
John Crace, The Guardian

“The programme still makes me uneasy – so much wealth, so little, relatively, given away and then for all to see – but this edition was really about bereavement, and it had something to say beyond cheers for Uncle Ebenezer.”
Andrew Billen, The Times

“Just as in Byker Grove many years ago, when PJ and Duncan, later and less enjoyably known as Ant and Dec, went from being joyful youngsters to morbid goons after the paintball accident that blinded PJ, so sitcoms are harder to pull off when the main character is paralysed.”
Amol Rajan, The Independent

“Rather than being a film about a prison restaurant, it was more a film about how few chances most prisoners get at rehabilitation and how many blow the ones they do get. Levan was thrilled to be offered a job as a waiter, then hacked the computer billing system on his first night.”
John Crace, The Guardian

“For all its warm and funny moments, we never lost life or the fact that some people are unable to see a golden opportunity.”
Matt Baylis, The Express

“It informed us that William is a very normal prince, Kate is a very normal public school-educated daughter of a millionaire and their marriage is a very normal fairytale romance. Saturday can’t come quickly enough.”
John Crace, The Guardian

“It was an intriguing and very watchable programme, rather than a dirt-dishing one, much in keeping with the general feeling of goodwill towards the pair and their big day.”                                                                      
Matt Baylis, The Express

“Television has replaced the women’s loos as Britain’s favourite place for a bawl. To be fair to BNBT, it is too middle-class and sensible to rely very much on tears, even ones of happiness.”
Andrew Billen, The Times