Trying; Hollywood; The Real Marigold Hotel; Gangs of London

“The genuinely loving, intimate banter between Nikki and Jason in their quieter moments too is one of the series’ greatest strengths. All this and Imelda Staunton as their social worker Penny still to come. It’s well worth trying.”
Lucy Mangan, The Guardian

“An attempt to mine comedy from the child adoption process that is intermittently funny and goofily charming – but doesn’t ultimately convince.”
Michael Hogan, The Telegraph 

“It is a show that is smug and obtuse enough to believe la la land’s self-regarding idea that celluloid art directly shapes our lives. Maybe this is what happens when you’re given $300m and a free rein. Maybe self-congratulation cannot help but seep in. But it’s a crushing disappointment nevertheless.”
Lucy Mangan, The Guardian

“Hollywood can never decide whether it wants to be an aspirational woke-alternate-reality fantasy or a nihilistic black comedy, and its conflicting tones sit uneasily together.”
Ed Cumming, The Independent

“Stale as the concept now is there were some delicious moments. Actually let me reprase that. Susie Blake visited an ayurvedic healer about her painful knee. The doctor felt her bare feet and said: “You have growths in the anal area.” Well. I don’t think we were expecting that. I doubt she was either. You don’t travel 5,000 miles to have the BBC tell the nation about your piles.”
Carol Midgley, The Times

“I am still mostly enjoying it and no one is more surprised about this than me. Normally violence-heavy drug-mafia stories have me lunging for the off switch, but there is something about this that keeps me coming back. I may be proved wrong, but it feels worth the investment.”
Carol Midgley, The Times