Peaky Blinders; The Secret Life of the Zoo

“You have to hand it to this wily upstart: four years on from first transmission, with a raft of starry names on the credits and a horde of new international fans, Steven Knight’s Brum-set gangster thriller has made it to the top of the TV pile.”
Ellen E Jones, The Guardian

“Peaky Blinders is striking in being a period drama that feels brand-spankingly modern, partly due to the music, partly to the fresh, spare dialogue and sets so luscious it’s like watching a moving painting. Isn’t it nice to have TV’s coolest psychos back for Christmas?”
Carol Midgley, The Times

“A terrifically paced return which tingled with excitement. Peaky Blinders gets better with each passing series.”
Michael Hogan, The Telegraph

“Peaky Blinders, which seemed such a mismatched hybrid when it launched four years ago, has carved out its own genre. What began as an incongruous hotchpotch has become the richest, darkest confection on television.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“It’s heartening to find the fruity accents have mellowed in the fourth series of Peaky Blinders while the pulp noir aesthetic that made it so compulsively enjoyable – and such a hit both here and in the US – has definitely not. It’s good to have these Brummie baddies back.”
Bernadette McNulty, The i

“The fact that much-loved actress Olivia Colman was on narration duties only made this gently joyful documentary all the more uplifting. It might have been no Blue Planet II but The Secret Life of the Zoo was equally enchanting in its own, more modest way.”
Michael Hogan, The Telegraph

“The Secret Life of the Zoo doesn’t have the grand sweep of Blue Planet II,  but it certainly has some characters, including Ripley, the femme fatale jewel wasp.”
Ellen E Jones, The Guardian

“What kind of sadists are jewel wasps? What Ripley the wasp did to Carl the cockroach in The Secret Life of the Zoo was more protracted torture than anything we saw in Gunpowder.”
Carol Midgley, The Times

“Paralysing him with a couple of jabs of venom, she chopped off his antennae and guzzled his blood before inserting her egg into his abdomen. Cuter moments were provided with the birth of a baby black rhino. But this series wisely refuses to be too cuddly.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“The Secret Life of the Zoo steered us away from the cute and furry and involved us in the stories of critters that matter just as much to the planet. Not exactly Call The Midwife but with expert commentary from Chester’s zookeepers and clever camerawork, there weren’t many who didn’t feel pity for Carl Cockroach and joy as Ripley’s baby ate his internal organs.”
Matt Baylis, Daily Express