27 Oct '10

“So where is the humour, you ask? It is in the dialogue saturated by bureaucratese and political correctness which, out of kindness, attempt to make a euphemism of suffering but actually leaves it abandoned and its users unable to communicate. Everything about Getting On, down to its depiction of a health service run by workers off the BMI chart, rings true.”
Andrew Billen, The Times

“It follows the trail blazed by a comedy like The Office… Getting On is full of such embarrassments, beautifully acted and excruciatingly awkward. [A] blend of black humour and grim reality, delivered with a fine grasp of understatement.  Sometimes it’s a beat or two before you even notice that a joke has been made.”
Tom Sutcliffe, The Independent

“It manages to appal, tickle and move, all at the same time - that’s quite an achievement. Just please make the cameraman keep still.”
Sam Wollaston, The Guardian

“The documentary… tried to find beauty rather than humour in the prosaic.”
Andrew Billen, The Times

“Some of it is fascinating… And some of it is so studiously banal that you want to do your bit for energy conservation by switching it off altogether.”
Tom Sutcliffe, The Independent

“Who’d have thought [it] would be so much fun? … Fascinating, and the good news is that’s not the end of the story: there are still two more parts to come.”
Sam Wollaston, The Guardian

“This was more interesting that it ought to have been and any programme that includes 10 minutes devoted to the beauty of electricity pylons deserves a pat on the back.”
Matt Baylis, Daily Express

“[It] draws on a dynamic in which the humour lies mostly in what isn’t said… An odd mixture of running gags that still have legs and those that have long run their course.”
Tom Sutcliffe, The Independent

“This is both horrid and impossible not to watch, especially last night when a pair of ex-Big Brother contestants held a ‘celebrity’-themed ceremony populated by star lookalikes.”

Matt Baylis, Daily Express