India’s Partition; Utopia; Impossible Engineering; My Extreme OCD Life

“The vanilla narrative history the BBC’s partition season has needed amid more personal and oblique treatments of the issue. The writer/director Chadha Gurinder was an inquisitive and enjoyably unpolished presenter, piecing together a consistent story from a collage of voices to confirm that no, partition wasn’t inevitable.”
Gabriel Tate, The Times

“There may be assertions within this film that prove controversial with some historians. It is a short and highly personal investigation that cannot begin to cover the necessary ground to make convincing arguments for how the partition of India came to be. However, in a country that is lacking in comprehensive and substantial education on its colonial past, it may be a good place to begin.”
Rebecca Nicholson, The Guardian

“Barely a week goes by without guilt-ridden liberals blaming Britain for all the world’s woes. Film-maker Gurinder Chadha, brought up in Southall, London, was at pains to emphasise that Britain alone was responsible for millions of deaths and decades of conflict following the separation of Pakistan in 1947. She returned to this theme repeatedly, even though all her evidence contradicted the claim.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“Utopia: In Search of the Dream was BBC4 documentary-making by numbers: expert presenter constructs erudite argument while strolling around picturesque locations, conducting a few face-to-face interviews and getting hands dirty if the opportunity arises. However, when the idea is good and the presenter well matched to the material, as Professor Richard Clay was to Utopia, that’s a good thing.”
Gabriel Tate, The Times

“Perhaps because they are aware that the show will mostly be watched by Americans, the writers make sure that any complicated concepts are explained by animated cartoon characters. I feel much more knowledgable about the economics of mass production, now that I’ve seen Impossible Engineering’s doodles of knights in armour and blacksmiths.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“OCD has become a buzzword, misused and overused. Banning words isn’t the answer but what can be done is to show people what OCD really is, what devastation it wreaks on individuals and families and how very different it is from just being tidy. Last night achieved that thoroughly with compassion.”
Matt Baylis, Daily Express