TV Critics: An Hour to Save Your Life; First Dates; Wasted

“I found Julian’s story almost impossible to watch. I have often mentally urged programmes to hurry up and end, but only out of boredom. Here I needed a fast cut to a happy ending because I could not bear any more bad news.”
Andrew Billen, The Times

“Hell, it’s tense. I’d like to hook myself up to a heart monitor to see what just watching this programme is doing to me.”
Sam Wollaston, The Guardian

“Most medical documentaries fill the viewer with admiration for the dedication and the training of the hospital teams. But this contained a jolt of delayed-action inspiration, a lesson in faith and hope.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“Technically, An Hour To Save Your Life is a bit of a swizz. In the three cases last night the story went far beyond the first hour, which it had to if it was to show the outcome.”
Matt Baylis, Daily Express

“First Dates is brilliant – so much better than the same channel’s more recent dating show Naked Attraction. When it doesn’t work – when there’s nothing there, or there on one side only – it’s unbearable. When it works, it’s lovely.”
Sam Wollaston, The Guardian

“It’s hard to imagine what personal low actor Sean Bean was experiencing when he agreed to a recurring cameo role in Wasted, a puerile sitcom. Rare laughs hint that writers Jon Foster and James Lamont could create a good comedy series — if they raise their sights.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail