TV Critics: Our Dancing Town; Islands of Australia; Bright Lights; Dan Snow On Lloyd George

“The people of Barnsley are, if anything, too cooperative for this sort of show – a little more resistance might have made it more dramatic – but the final dance sequence, featuring cops, kids, old people, baton twirlers, northern soul devotees, glass blowers and a brass band, still brings a lump to the throat.”
Tim Dowling, The Guardian

“The concept will take time to grow, but Our Dancing Town already deserves a second series. As people realise what this is all about, they will love it.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“As this new series proves in spades, Mr Clunes makes a thoroughly lovely presenter. Happy to humiliate himself by trying to shin up vast palm trees, weeping as some Norfolk Island girls sang a Tahitian song, he’s the very opposite of slick and, you sense, they appreciate that Down Under as much as we do Up Here.”
Matt Baylis, Daily Express

“This show feels less didactic than BBC2’s Coast Australia, which covers similar ground — not so much a history lesson, more a holiday.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“Unflinchingly honest (although I flinched a few times) and unbearably poignant, Bright Lights doesn’t just trump future documentaries about Fisher and Reynolds; it precludes the need for them. It is as comprehensive a portrait of mother and daughter as you are ever likely to see.”
Tim Dowling, The Guardian

“Hollywood dynasties are endlessly fascinating, however hard we pretend they are too superfluous to deserve our attention. Beneath the glitz and glamour, Bright Lights told a story of family wounds that run deep – a tale we mere mortals can relate to as well.”
Daisy Wyatt, The i

“I’m not sure the family connections, the solid research or the illuminating interviews with Lord (Roy) Hattersley brought Dan Snow any closer to cracking the enigma of his great-great-grandad David. Then again, history that claims to do that is peddling its own kind of non-existent gold.”
Matt Baylis, Daily Express