“One should always shun cliché, but one that seemed permissible in these circumstances was the word ‘heartstopping,’” Read on for the verdict on last night’s TV.

TRANSPLANT, BBC1

“There was so much virtue, bravery, grief, and gratitude in view in Transplant that further commentary is almost superfluous.”
Andrew Billen, The Times

“One should always shun cliché, but one that seemed permissible in these circumstances was the word ‘heartstopping,’ even if, as here, it was actually applied to the dangerous moment when a liver is switched back on its lodging, apparently a time when even experienced transplant surgeons cross their fingers.”
Tom Sutcliffe, The Independent

“There have been any number of documents about transplant surgery but none, so far as I can remember, that followed the organs from donor to donee.”
John Crace, The Guardian

MARY QUEEN OF FROCKS, CHANNEL 4

“That’s what worries me about this programme: the distorting prism of a reality business show.”
John Crace, The Guardian

ROMANZO CRIMINALE,  SKY ARTS 1

“It was confidently paced, character led, funny, sexy, and surprising. It was violent, but that’s gangsters for you.”
Andrew Billen, The Times

THE BODY FARM, BBC1

“Last night’s pile of human remains and pure hokum involved medical trials of a cholera-type virus in a women’s prison, a set-up and a resolution that were about as believable as the prospect of Father Christmas leaving his fingerprints behind.”
Matt Baylis, Daily Express

Topics