“The programme distinguished itself by not taking a simplistic view of the past.”
British Sitcom: 60 Years of Laughing at Ourselves, BBC4
“The programme distinguished itself by not taking a simplistic view of the past. In reviving Are You Being Served? and the like, the BBC Sitcom Season has made some of the old comedies seem a bit dense. This retrospective at least gazed a bit harder, reminding you that, at its best, the sitcom can be an even sharper tool than drama.”
“For all this evidence of social progress seen through the lens of half-hour comedy, the impressive cast of nostalgists gathered to reflect on 60 years of television comedy included almost no women. Perhaps an honest contemporary sitcom could reflect on the reality that the cause of gender equality hasn’t come as far as we all like to think.”
“This assembly of sitcom clips wasn’t much more than it claimed to be, really, but the sheer volume of them and the timespan and the useful insights from writers and performers made a few conclusions unavoidable.”
“Rebecca Front’s voiceover was a smug recital of political correctness, as she looked back at everything from Hancock’s Half Hour to Gavin And Stacey from a superior height. The clips were fine, though brief. The commentary was awful.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail
Cold Feet, ITV
“After its triumphant relaunch episode, it continues to blend the sweet and sour in highly satisfying style.”
“I think the show is at its best yet in its new incarnation: chiefly, it has benefited from the very fact of its characters growing older, which has given it a new tone of autumnal melancholy and a greater emotional sophistication.”
“With the pent-up energy of 13 years away from our screens, it blew its cork with a champagne explosion of froth and bubbles in the first episode. But the fizz already shows disappointing signs of turning out to be flat and vinegary.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail
“Remember when Helen Baxendale was a guest character marrying into the ensemble cast of Friends? It didn’t work because no one wrote her any good lines. The same is happening with her successor in Cold Feet.”
Panorama: Why Are Gambling Machines Addictive?, BBC1
“Wendy Bendel’s investigation was a personal and a brave one. I hope the gambling industry – Paddy, Fred, William and the rest of them – watch Wendy’s Panorama and then take a good, hard look at themselves.”
No comments yet