TV Critics: Coronation Street; Girls

“This episode could easily have been just a sentimental weep-a-thon, but subtle performances, particularly from David Neilson as Roy, made for a more emotionally complex drama. Corrie’s producers had always insisted this storyline would explore the issues of the right-to-die debate while remaining neutral. Their real achievement was managing this without compromising the emotional truth of two much-loved characters.”
Ellen E Jones, The Independent

“In Hayley’s harrowing death scenes last night we did not see a glamorised, sensationalised story, played to make headlines roar and Twitter race. This was not a clumsy for-or-against, TV-does-issues-moment, but a nuanced picture of life ending as much painfully as peacefully. It is a plot that is likely to make viewers sob and think in buckets. Bravo.”
Alex Hardy, The Times

“The right to die remains a heated, emotional and complex topic which we will almost certainly never resolve. But with this storyline, handled with bravery and nuance, Coronation Street has made considerable progress in the debate.”
Ben Lawrence, The Telegraph

“With such sensitive acting, this ought to have been an unequivocal triumph, but the show’s executive producer, Stuart Blackburn, has tarnished it in his eagerness for ratings. If Blackburn had really wanted to tackle the debate over assisted suicide, Roy could have lifted the drugs to his wife’s lips. That really would have been controversial television, but the producers apparently lacked the courage for it.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“In two finely scripted episodes by writers Debbie Oates and Chris Fewtrell, Hayley left both Roy and us. One last shirt ironed, one last hug of Fiz and Tyrone’s children, one last barm secured for Chesney, and it was time. Goodbye Hayley, and goodbye Julie Hesmondhalgh. And thank you for everything.”
Lucy Mangan, The Guardian

“Lena Dunham’s show is TV that can make you laugh while almost retching with recognition that people really can be this crappy. It’s TV to make yourself feel better by: that you’re not one of the half-adult, half-child, half-worms on screen. Honesty this brutal is rare, and brilliantly, disgustingly entertaining.”
Alex Hardy, The Times

“As we enter the show’s third season on Sky Atlantic, it’s clear that creator/star Lena Dunham has hit a groove. The characters still interact in ways that feel true, but the comedy is now sharp enough to entertain viewers who don’t happen to be affluent twentysomething white women.”
Ellen E Jones, The Independent

“It’s dead smart and funny and ballsy and wise and may well be about as close as TV drama gets to capturing a generation (albeit a very particular, clever, articulate, self-obsessed, white, middle-class, in-therapy, New Yorker generation). I’m getting a sense that Girls is no longer shocking just for the sake of shocking. Even a bit grown up, maybe.”
Sam Wollaston, The Guardian

“Dunham and her collaborator Jennifer Konner still write some of the finest dialogue on television, from silly throwaway lines to the world-weary wisdom of Jessa’s older rehab confidente (a chain-smoking Richard E Grant). His withering appraisal of Jessa’s ‘fun’ life perfectly encapsulates the fun of this show to the non-twentysomething viewer: as dull as middle-age can be, being young is the absolute worst.”
Ross Jones, The Telegraph