TV Critics: A Killing in My Family; Hidden Restaurants; The Man Who Shot Tutankhamun; Incredible Medicine

“The concern with such a programme is that it is voyeuristic at best, exploitative at worst. This particular one felt as free as it could be of such taint. Calm, rigorous, compassionate and unsentimental, it felt absolutely of a piece with the ethos of the work the charity was doing with the children.”
Lucy Mangan, The Guardian

“There will be no sadder documentary this week than A Killing in My Family. Yes, this programme was awash with therapy-speak and some of the rituals seemed to come from a handbook. It was hard to argue, however, with the candlelit ceremony at which Chelsea and her two sisters remembered and cried.”
Andrew Billen, The Times

“Bereaved children don’t necessarily need their travails paraded on national television, so it’s not quite clear what this quietly fascinating study of human nature in extremis was finally for. This felt like a very polite and enlightened form of snooping, a window into a private world of sadness, confusion and courage.”
Jasper Rees, The Telegraph

“For a programme celebrating authentic cooking (fire pits) and authentic locations (the sea beneath a floating boat in one case), Hidden Restaurants with Michel Roux Jr was highly confected. And his diners were young and photogenic. You don’t suppose the film-makers rounded them up, do you?”
Andrew Billen, The Times

“He made a goat pie. The very thought of it is so disgusting that he didn’t dare tell his diners what they were eating, but waited until the plates were cleared before confessing the true ingredients. To describe this as ‘unpretentious food’ is a porky pie.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“The question, when faced with a Latin American restaurant in a yellow double-decker bus is not, ‘why would you want to eat your dinner on a yellow double-decker bus?’, although that is a fair question. The bigger question is, ‘why would you want to eat Latin American food?’. Thankfully, not every one of Michel Roux’s hidden finds was so gimmicky.”
Matt Baylis, Daily Express

“Unless you’re an enthusiast, you might never have stopped to wonder about Burton’s famous photos and how they were made. This impassioned programme, despite its niche appeal, had a lot to teach us.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

”At a certain point, the best attempts to immerse us in the wonders of neuroscience fall flat, as Incredible Medicine: Dr Weston’s Casebook proves. The stories are endlessly fascinating. The explanations, ultimately, a bit dull.”
Matt Baylis, Daily Express