TV Critics: Blustone 42; The Crash; Mayday

“It’s very broad and kind, and I was impressed by it. It was confident and deft, and brooked no squeamishness, no uncertainty about which jokes you’re allowed to make and which you aren’t… Like Miranda, a lot of its watchability comes not from actual laughs, but from enjoying the company of the nice people. Inevitably, however, this means that it never gets anywhere near the bone, and has none of that wincing discomfort that has one, while watching Peep Show or The Thick of It, literally drawing away from the telly, crying.”
Zoe Williams, The Guardian

“There are promising elements here, including the presence of Tony Gardner as a cynical base commander and the mere existence of the thing itself. ‘Brave’ might be overbaked to describe Bluestone 42. If it does eventually go off in the face of those who commissioned it, they’re not going to lose a lot. But it’s not cowardly either, and that’s worth applauding.”
Tom Sutcliffe, The Independent

“The ribald foot soldiers are funny but my preferred performance is from Oliver Chris as Nick, the Ben Foglish public school captain… It is true his plot, his attempts to get into the knickers of a sexy (but, natch, sassy) female padre, was a little worn, and some of the characters needed pepping up, but Bluestone 42 is the bravest thing I have seen on television for a while.”
Andrew Billen, The Times

“The title really blew the suspense of this two-part teen drama. That’s fine. But they spent at least five minutes setting up the suspense and that five minutes could have been spent some other way. They could have differentiated the parents a little bit, since at the moment they are all one mountain range of middle-aged hillocks: sensible, parental, readying themselves for anguish. Danielle Nardini in particular is woefully underused, though that could correct itself in the next episode.”
Zoe Williams, The Guardian

“Although you might have recognised many of the faces from youth-oriented shows such as Skins and Waterloo Road, The Crash paints a refreshingly different portrait of young adult life in modern Britain. No one’s swallowing horse tranquilisers, no one’s joined a gang or is trying to get pregnant so she can have a council flat: the lives, hopes and fears of these characters are pretty close to those experienced by the greater bulk of flesh-and-blood young people in the world today.”
Matt Baylis, Daily Express

“It’s like an extended version of one of those road-safety adverts aimed at teenagers… As I was watching, I thought it a little oversweet in the writing, with a faintly synthetic sense of youthful exuberance. But something must have worked because the crash that came at the end was genuinely upsetting. The second episode should reveal whether it amounts to more than an unusually detailed public-information film.”
Tom Sutcliffe, The Independent

“Worryingly, there has been an upturn in the number of ghosts, adding to the confusion created by too large a cast and some poor editing. My main point: the disappearance of a child does not need magic realism; realism will suffice, thank you. I refer you to the genuinely chilling Broadchurch, which thrashed its rival in Monday’s ratings.”
Andrew Billen, The Times