TV critics' verdict on programmes - including the start of new BBC1 series Damages - broadcast over the weekend between the 4 and 6 January 2008.

Damages, BBC1
“I now have absolutely no idea at all what is going on. To find out will take 13 hours of my life.”
Nancy Banks-Smith, The Guardian

Damages, BBC1
“I may be in too deep already.”
Thomas Sutcliffe, The Independent

Damages, BBC1
“Glen Close gives a cinema-size performance.”
Andrew Billen, The Times

Damages, BBC1
“you'd be well within your rights to expect a TV drama of glittering class. Well that's not quite what happened. The characterisation and dialogue, for example, are distinctly on the corny side.”
James Walton, Daily Telegraph

1983: Brink of Apocalypse, C4
“... fine documentary.”
Andrew Billen, The Times

Picture This, C4
“It felt like watching the worst of all the reality-talent-challenge shows we've seen recently, but through a distorted lens, so that, somehow, magically, it all had become rather good and grown up and interesting.”
Matt Baylis, Daily Express

Timewatch: Bloody Omaha, BBC2
“The presenting job went to that well-known military historian, Richard “The Hamster” Hammond.”
James Walton, Daily Telegraph

Pop Britannia, BBC4
“this was a wonderful way to spend time in front of the telly.”
James Walton, Daily Telegraph

Foyle's War, ITV1
“Foyle is such a masterclass in inhibition that you wonder how long it takes Michael Kitchen to defrost after each series.”
Nancy Banks-Smith, The Guardian

Topics