TV Critics: The Truth About Stress; Born To Kill; Car Crash Britain; Joanna Lumley’s Postcards

“Fiona Phillips fronted a rather good programme on a disorder that, apparently, accounts for almost half the nation’s sick days. It was good because it gave clear advice on what to do about it.”
Andrew Billen, The Times

“This helpful and well-intentioned programme may have been hampered by the inescapable fact the best remedies for stress are simple and well-known: diet, exercise and mindfulness were the recommended top three.”
Tim Dowling, The Guardian

“In a brisk hour of rudimentary fact-finding, Fiona Phillips looked for symptoms before moving on to potential palliatives. Everyday stress, you may be less than staggered to discover, is best dealt with through improvements in diet and exercise regime.”
Jasper Rees, The Telegraph

“This wasn’t exactly science telly at its finest. It was shallow and bitty, full of trite advice and half-hearted experiments. It felt as though it had been put together by a handful of junior researchers, too young to know what real stress was.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“Set over the bleakest Christmas since Nixon bombed Hanoi, Born to Kill manages to make teenage psychopathy and multiple murder dreary. Philosophically — the banality of evil and all that — that might be a point in its favour. Dramatically it is a heavy mark against.”
Andrew Billen, The Times

“More contemporary gothic chiller than out-and-out thriller, Born to Kill’s jigsaw pieces don’t entirely marry up: Sam has left clues aplenty, his hospital visits strain credibility, and the beta-male copper played by the ever-estimable Daniel Mays feels underwritten. But this is a fearless exploration of teenage amorality and alienation. Clever, unsettling, and original.”
Jasper Rees, The Telegraph

“This murky and compelling tale is not unique in its fascination with psychopaths but it’s rare in its quality. The writing and the directing haven’t forgotten the fine details, and they’re what make this a TV show top flight. This was TV drama at its best, the sheer skill of it shining in every dark corner.”
Matt Baylis, Daily Express

“For viewers who weren’t feeling stressed enough already, the dash-cam footage of suicidally selfish and aggressive drivers was liable to bring on a bout of armchair apoplexy. It was proof that stress can affect an ordinary, sane human being’s judgment so badly that a gory death seems like a better option than sitting for another ten seconds in a traffic jam.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“Like most of the traffic accident genre, it’s a familiar blend of bonnet-crunching footage, inane narration and repeated assurances that, ‘Amazingly, no one was seriously injured,’ in the upside-down fireball you see before you.”
Tim Dowling, The Guardian

“Joanna Lumley’s Postcards are, depending on your point of view, thinly-disguised repeats of Joanna Lumley’s travel programmes or much-valued second chances to see Joanna Lumley’s travel programmes with added comment from Joanna Lumley.”
Matt Baylis, Daily Express