The Detectives; Bad Move; Famalam

“Sometimes it’s routine, at other moments it’s uncomfortable; but it’s always fascinating because it’s policing as policing is. The fact that it looks a bit like The Bridge doesn’t take anything away.”
Sam Wollaston, The Guardian

“It was shot like a glossy Nordic-noir drama, all brooding grey skies, rain lashing over windscreen. Thankfully the high-end look was not to make the police look better, or trick you into thinking you were watching the latest box-set hit. Instead, this fictionalised styling made the horrifying reality of the murders even more intense.”
Bernadette McNulty, The i

“Some bits of this gripping episode were shot so moodily they were almost like film noir. I imagine, across the UK, quite a few police chiefs are now very ready for their close-ups.”
Carol Midgley, The Times

“This documentary series follows Manchester coppers over a year-long investigation into the killing of a 23-year-old homeless man. He’d been beaten to death and incinerated, surrounded by rubbish and filth under railway arches. It made for truly disturbing TV.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“True crime series The Detectives confirmed something last night, to anyone who’d ever doubted it. Lives are lived in more or less open view on social media and that’s how crimes are solved as well.”
Matt Baylis, Daily Express

“There’s nothing really wrong with it, it’s just a safe, predictable sitcom that could have gone out in 1987.”
Sam Wollaston, The Guardian

“Jack Dee does misery superbly, but in Bad Move I find him not miserable enough. This comedy feels too innocent, too gentle a vehicle for Dee, whose darkness can be a luminous joy. It’s all a bit too — what’s the unlikely word I’m looking for? — ah, yes: nice.”
Carol Midgley, The Times

“Remembering the sharp, urbane wit of their last sitcom, Lead Balloon, it is hard to believe that this is the output of the same creative brains. Based on this first episode alone, it was hard not to worry that for Dee, Bad Move was showing every sign of having an all-too-apt title.”
Gerard O’Donovan, The Telegraph

“These gags felt like like young actors making a fair point about their own experience. They were also funny while they did it. A couple of tv parodies didn’t have the same zing. It confirmed for me what creative writing students learn at the start of every new term. Write what you know about.”
Matt Baylis, Daily Express

“It’s hit and miss – of course it is, it’s a sketch show. Sometimes it hits a nerve. Sometimes it’s just hilarious. Oh, and I love the real Nigerian prince, who really does have $44m worth of gold bullion, which he really does need to transfer.”
Sam Wollaston, The Guardian