Blitz: The Bombs That Changed Britain; Love, Lies and Records

“Whizzy graphics, aerial photography and sepia-tinted footage bought it to vivid visual life. The narrative skilfully moved from specific to general, from individual lives to wider consequences.”
Michael Hogan, The Telegraph

“The thesis drawing a line from a Nazi bomb to the foundation of the modern welfare state was stretched to the limit, but didn’t snap — and, anyway, the new ideas and angles it explored, along with a wealth of irresistibly evocative anecdotal detail, more than made up for the occasional piece of magical thinking.”
Gabriel Tate, The Times

“My main gripe is that such tinsel strings of cause and effect get in the way of first-hand, nuts and bolts history. I could do without that kind of duffers’ view especially as so many direct, moving accounts of the East End’s Blitz took us right there, amid the fires, the smells and the panic.”
Matt Baylis, Daily Express

“This documentary, the first of four, is a great piece of journalism in itself. The single bomb is a clever way into a huge national event.”
Sam Wollaston, The Guardian

“This week Kay Mellor’s drama is offering death, murder, a police investigation, a non-police investigation, organised crime, trafficking, blackmail, teen rage, parental paranoia, bigamy (kinda) and homophobia. Stirred and served with relish. It won’t win any prizes for reflecting the real world or plausibility, probably won’t bother the Baftas much either, but it is jolly good fun.”
Sam Wollaston, The Guardian

“This isn’t a story, it’s a blizzard. The crises pass in such a blur that it’s hard to care too much about them. But if you allow yourself to be deluged with drama, it’s an entertaining hour.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“This was a startlingly frank and unvarnished portrait of life with a degenerative illness. The director, David Modell, asked straight questions and got straight answers in return, for which everyone involved deserves great credit.”
Gabriel Tate, The Times

“This engrossing four-part biography reveals how often The Donald’s ambitions and self-image have seemed completely delusional to everyone but himself. Edited down from thousands of hours of interviews and news footage, it has an ear for the incriminating quote … many of them uttered by The Donald himself.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail