The Assassination of Gianni Versace; Save Me; Benidorm

“With American Crime Story season two, Ryan Murphy has served up another killer slice of documudrama – a lush, gossipy tour de force that dazzles and tantalises in equal measure.”
Ed Power, The Telegraph

“Like The People v OJ Simpson, it brims with class. Darren Criss as Andrew Cunanan, the fantasist serial killer who shot Versace in 1997, manages just the right blend of camp charisma and obsessive weirdo mendacity as the contrast is made between the fêted designer’s eye-bleeding wealth and the sociopath’s empty life and wardrobe.”
Carol Midgley, The Times

“The real protagonist of this piece is sister Donatella Versace. Psycho Cunanan is too contemptible and sick to hold our attention, but we won’t be able to take our eyes off the appalling Donatella.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“Edgar Ramirez gives Versace a poetic tenderness that makes you feel the senseless waste and brutality of his murder. But it’s Darren Criss who steals the show as the real American Psycho, dissembling and deceiving with alarming ease, dancing to Phil Collins, his eyes flashing behind his preppy glasses.”
Bernadette McNulty, The i

“You could watch The Assassination of Gianni Versace and think it was a fantasy. As the story segued into the hunt for Versace’s killer and the awkward comedy of blue-collar cops probing the sex lives of the fabulously wealthy, the needle flicked from facts to theatricals at every turn.”
Matt Baylis, Daily Express

“It’s not helped by a weirdly clunky script that has the murderer, Andrew Cunanan, disgorging great lumps of exposition that pop the narrative bubbles we would otherwise be chasing after. On the other hand, maybe it’s not a problem at all. You don’t need to feel too guilty about what promises to be a glorious and, given its central subject, eminently unjustifiable pleasure.”
Lucy Mangan, The Guardian

“I’m trying to think of a weak scene or a ropey line in Lennie James’s Save Me. If there was one I didn’t notice. It’s a long time since I saw a drama so pitch-perfect, or heard dialogue so authentic.”
Carol Midgley, The Times

“There are so many elements of Save Me that point towards a Guaranteed Quality TV Moment that it would have been shocking if it failed to live up to expectations. Instead, this is a well-functioning, gripping thriller that sets up a convincing world for its Deptford lothario Nelson ‘Nelly’ Rowe, then threatens to violently dismantle it, piece by piece.”
Rebecca Nicholson, The Guardian

“After all those seasons as Morgan Jones on The Walking Dead, it does the heart good to see Lennie James charismatically fronting a British drama of his own devising. Save Me has the pleasing smack of originality.”
Jasper Rees, The Telegraph

“Benidorm was once a better sitcom than it was given credit for, but its glory days have long since fallen away. This episode was a slog, because, with all the good will in the world, it seemed as if the writers had forgotten to pack the jokes.”
Rebecca Nicholson, The Guardian

“Nigel Havers, as the smarmy dentist taking over Kenneth’s salon, is smoothly amusing, and the wonderful Janine Duvitski as elderly swinger Jacqueline is back. But most of the best-loved Benidorm regulars have long since departed, and the show has a decrepit air, like a cheap hotel at the tail-end of the season.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail