Catching a Killer; Storyville; Love, Lies & Records

“Programmes such as Catching a Killer have to strike a balance between challenging viewers’ perceptions and rewarding their prurience. This one could have tipped the scales the wrong way, but for the sober reflections of Suhaibs’s younger sister and from senior investigating officer Mike Lynch. A death like this, he said, was not inevitable, but wholly avoidable.”
Sam Wollaston, The Guardian

“The deeply moving and brave interviews with Suhaib’s father and sister told us just how easy it is for a nice young lad, who wasn’t the intended victim, to be groomed into a world of drugs in a very short time. A terrifying tale for any parent and, in TV terms, an education.”
Carol Midgley, The Times

“It’s a rare copper who’s surprised by anything humans get up to and an even rarer TV show that manages to capture the surprise. The brilliant true-crime series Catching A Killer pulled it off last night. Lie upon lies connected to a mire of drug debts and robberies. The one constant was Suhaib, who had made the mistake of knowing bad people but done nothing bad himself.”
Matt Baylis, Daily Express

“This was breathless, gripping stuff. And yet, at the time, the case barely caused a ripple in the media. The reason for this was simple and depressing. Mohammed was associated with drug dealers. The great triumph of A Bullet Through the Window was in showing us what a callous attitude that is.”
Rupert Hawksley, The Telegraph

“A curious coda at the end of fly-on-the-wall documentary Catching A Killer complained the Press had failed to cover the trial of two men accused of shooting a 19-year-old in a drugs den. Though it tried diligently, this documentary could not ignite much interest either. However unpalatable, the truth is stark and harsh: anyone who goes to a squat on a rundown housing estate, to buy and use drugs, tends to forfeit public sympathy.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“One of the most amazingly weird things I have seen this year. For those who have not yet seen it, I will not spoil the reaction of a North Korean audience getting their first hearing of government-approved Slovenian industrial metal. But there is something uplifting about this strange, sometimes artful documentary. It takes your cynicism, plays with it, and in the end, steals it from you.”
Sam Wollaston, The Guardian

“Kay Mellor is, without doubt a master storyteller and the cast here is good, but the weakness for me is that it feels issue-led rather than character-led. Sham marriage, suspected murder, suicide, adultery, IVF, transgenderism, death, homophobia, sperm donation, human trafficking: that’s a lot to eat in one sitting. Less sometimes really is more.”
Carol Midgley, The Times