TV Critics: The Sweet Makers: A Tudor Treat; Red Rock; The Windsors; Sarah Payne: A Mother’s Story; Joanna Lumley’s India

“The producers over-sweetened the lesson, by letting two of their confectioners have a little weep at the plight of the slaves. Just once, it would be good to see a history doc that doesn’t involve sniffles and tissues.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“What emerged alongside the fun and the facts was a surprisingly strong sense of the hidden, extraordinarily complex and highly political history this most innocent-seeming substance can have.”
Gerard O’Donovan, Daily Telegraph

“The producers, had not quite nailed their format, which was Tudor Monastery Farm mixed with, as I suggested, a non-competitive strain of The Great British Bake Off. There was a decent sequence in which Dabiri reported from Barbados on 17th-century sugar production and slavery. It made me feel uncomfortable about the programme, its disconnect between form and content.”
Andrew Billen, The Times

“The Windsors paints its humour with the broadest strokes and that’s precisely why it works. Each 25-minute episode ticks away like a time bomb, hurtling towards a very silly, very satisfying conclusion. It’s like a cross between a revenge tragedy, a Carry On film and an episode of Dynasty.”
Ben Lawrence, Daily Telegraph

“How sweet it is to watch the shamelessly nonsensical sitcom The Windsors. In a garret, it turned out, Vicki Pepperdine’s Mrs Danvers-like Anne had been keeping Charles’s secret twin. He had to die, of course. His last words were that he loved Charles, to which the heir to the throne responded: “And best wishes to you in all your endeavours.” The show is genius.”
Andrew Billen, The Times

“Throughout the series Lumley has avoided the obvious tourist traps and so it was again here. she hasn’t shied away from the many less savoury aspects of life in India, either, such as lingering caste discrimination and the crushing poverty that persists despite its vast economic wealth.”
Daily Telegraph

“Red Rock dreams of being Irish noir, but it’s written and filmed on an Acorn Antiques budget. Every scene is filmed in huddles, as if the studio floor is about the size of a table-top. A few good characters draw the viewer in, and the stories do belt along. But this is not afternoon telly to put a smile on your face.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“The tone throughout was solemn and understated. The family clearly wanted to speak and their testimony was horribly gripping. Revisiting a high profile child murder a decade and a half later could easily have tipped into sensationalism. To Channel 5’s credit, Sarah Payne: A Mother’s Story treaded softly and let the terrible facts speak for themselves.”
Ed Power, Daily Telegraph