Contagion!; Big Cats About the House; Martin Luther King by Trevor McDonald

“It was a vast, clever experiment and the presenters seemed delighted that the prognosis was very grim, which may explain that jolly titular exclamation mark. What I liked about this documentary was that it gave us proper, grown-up science and, unlike many such programmes, didn’t pitch it at the IQ of a five-year-old.”
Carol Midgley, The Times

“We had no insights beyond what common sense told us and just a few scraps of information about the possibility of universal vaccines for all flu strains. But maybe this is what public service broadcasting is now. A public information film that, through plodding pedestrianism, inoculates against the fear of the risk it is showcasing. Diazepam in the telly supply.”
Lucy Mangan, The Guardian

“Big Cats about the House is a televisual banker. So achingly adorable is the black jaguar cub being hand-raised by the also rather adorable conservationist Giles Clark that it was impossible to watch without chewing your fists at the utter cuteness.”
Carol Midgley, The Times

“Big Cats About The House charmed us with the spectacle of a tiny jaguar cub being hand-fed in a Kent conservatory. How could you bottle feed a baby jaguar and not love it?”
Matt Baylis, Daily Express

“Big Cats About the House is a less oblique form of drugging us all. As Maya gets older, it becomes clear that she has mobility issues and may be blind. The nation waits to hear her fate, usefully distracted from its own.”
Lucy Mangan, The Guardian

“The documentary took an unexpectedly serious turn in the last 10 minutes, when it became plain that Maya had problems with her sight as well as shaky back legs. A show that had been mostly pleasant if unremarkable was overshadowed by forebodings of tragedy, and the second episode next week will be unmissable.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“Martin Luther King by Trevor McDonald could easily have been a paint-by-numbers look at an overfamiliar figure. But while there was nothing especially revelatory, this documentary was elevated by the quality of the interviewees and McDonald’s evident love of his subject.”
Ed Cumming, The Telegraph

“The real truth that Sir Trevor discovered, as he reconstructed Dr King’s life story with the help of outstanding contemporary footage, was that white racists in America’s Deep South would have happily murdered him much earlier.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“The most remarkable elements in last night’s programme came from the archive footage. On the one hand there was King… On the other, policemen and dogs and whips and the worst people can do to other people. Sadly, looking at the world 50 years after his death, King’s dream still hasn’t replaced the nightmare.”
Matt Baylis, Daily Express