The Queen: Her Commonwealth Story; Hospital; Dispatches

“The Queen: Her Commonwealth Story had plenty going for it: a beaming, engaged host in George Alagiah; spectacular location photography, both contemporary and from the archives; and talking heads of a very superior calibre. Yet for all of the charming anecdotes and evocative footage, genuine insights were few and far between.”
Gabriel Tate, The Telegraph

“Alagiah, a heavyweight journalist, hailed her ‘quiet diplomacy’ in guiding the Commonwealth for over 60 years, but he toned down the toadying we tend to get from royal correspondents. The increasingly improbable costumes and the presence of Prince Philip even provided an (unintentional) element of comedy.”
Michael Day, The i

“George Alagiah, to his credit, didn’t swerve the thorny matter of the Queen taking part in a tiger hunt in India in 1961, posing for a group photo behind the tiger’s corpse. But it mostly showed, with juicy archive footage, how very effective the Queen has been at exerting subtle pressure, such as on Margaret Thatcher to impose sanctions on apartheid South Africa.”
Carol Midgley, The Times

“There’s some crossover in The Queen: Her Commonwealth Story with The Crown. George Alagiah’s film is a more serious look at the relationship between the Commonwealth and its head. Less juicy. It makes you wonder if reality itself was less fun than The Crown.”
Sam Wollaston, The Guardian

“Filmed during the recent winter crisis, the documentary illuminated the dreadful mess in which much of the NHS now finds itself. As the margins of the NHS grow thinner by the month, urgent, radical surgery looks inevitable. This fascinating layer cake of a documentary series continues to demonstrate why with grim, angering clarity.”
Gabriel Tate, The Telegraph

“The third series of the documentary was filmed in Nottingham University Hospital and captured scenes worthy of a disaster zone. It’s time to ask if this is really about the NHS in crisis or the NHS at an end.”
Matt Baylis, Daily Express

“Done well, documentary can, for human drama, knock out of the park any weepy schmaltz Hollywood can offer. Hospital was one of them.”
Carol Midgley, The Times

“This Dispatches documentary looks beyond the Salisbury bench and the Skripals, back to the mother country and the man who has just very easily won another term there. All the right questions are asked, of all the right people, even if they are not all answered. It is thorough and – like the best explosive spy thrillers – absolutely gripping.”
Sam Wollaston, The Guardian