“Deserves to be a Game of Thrones-sized hit”

Succession

Succession, Sky Atlantic

“The first series was so top-notch, each character worth a drama to themselves, that I feared it couldn’t summon the same momentum. Well, forget that: it relaunched with all cylinders firing and spitting. There was no quality drop. It is exceptional, operatic drama.”
Caroline Midgely, The Times

“As with all second seasons of a somewhat cult show, there was a worry creator Jesse Armstrong would bow to the pressure of success and pull back his not so subtle take down of the world’s elite dynasties. Thankfully no punches were pulled in the opening episode, especially not between the characters themselves.”
Emily Baker, The i

“This opening episode does everything Succession does best, giving us wicked sibling summits, the blackest of black humour, those delicate little manoeuvres of power that seem harmless until they emerge at the centre of absolutely everything.”
Rebecca Nicholson, The Guardian

“It should be said that Succession isn’t for the faint-hearted. Foul-mouthed insults flew thick and fast, while several scenes would have been pretty impenetrable to new viewers. I’d thoroughly recommend catching up with the first series to appreciate it fully. Succession deserves to be a Game of Thrones-sized hit.”
Michael Hogan, The Telegraph

The Great Train Robbery: The Hidden Tapes, Channel 4

“The dramatic reconstructions were deeply awkward. The Get Carter-esque soundtrack and geezerish glorification began to grate. These weren’t have-a-go heroes, socking it to the establishment. They were violent thugs who brutally beat train driver Jack Mills over the head with an iron bar.”
Michael Hogan, The Telegraph

Born Famous, Channel 4

“According to Scary Spice, she was dragged up in a slum, with a prostitute for one next-door neighbour and a drug-dealer for the other. That’s surely what C4 bosses were dreaming of, when they commissioned this grinding slab of boredom. I hope nothing else on TV this year is more dull than watching her daughter Phoenix do a shift at a pizza restaurant as a waitress ‘like Mom did’.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

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