TV Critics: Dara O'Briain's Science Club; Catching a Killer; First Dates; Phoneshop

“With a set heavily inspired by Top Gear and the same jovial presenter who hosts Mock the Week, the agenda here is as clear as it was last time around, and there were moments when the earnestly intended, Christian-rock-style fusion of hilarity and science felt horribly strained.”
Archie Brand, The Independent

“This is The Burke Special meets Top of the Pops in which an urgently genial baldy with brains for brains romps through scientific fancy-thats before an audience not allowed to sit nor required to dance and which, their questionnaires revealed, contained only a minority of borderline psychopaths.”
Andrew Billen, The Times

“As you’d expect with a magazine-type show like Dara O Briains Science Club, some items fall a bit flat. The chances are that if you are interested in science then you’ll watch TV programmes about it. If you do that, you’ll already have seen half a dozen more in-depth and revealing programmes about the latest in humanoid robots and reading thoughts with MRI brain-scanners.”
Matt Baylis, Daily Express

“After all, I like O Briain and I like science, so surely putting the two together is a great mix. Unfortunately, it turns out that this is similar to saying I like hydrogen (75 per cent of the universe, vital to our life) and I like sulphur (used in medicine and in fertilisers), so I am bound to like hydrogen sulphide (smells of rotten eggs and highly poisonous).”
Terry Ramsey, The Telegraph

“Bang Goes The Theory for grown-ups, you could say. With a hint of the Top Gear about the format, and the studio audience. But more interesting because it’s not just about cars, and funnier because O Braian is actually funny, not just a fool who thinks he is.”
Sam Wollaston, The Guardian

“The thesis of the programme – if that is not too grand a concept for what was largely a rehash of old news – was that killers are now “media savvy”, so they feel comfortable attempting to fool the public.”
Terry Ramsey, The Telegraph

“As it was, the rehashed details of these horrible crimes seemed a little off the point. Such manipulative criminal behaviour is transfixing, to be sure. But by the end I was still unconvinced that these people were really so different from the more ordinary sort of killer.”
Archie Brand, The Independent

“First Dates, which ended yesterday, is brilliantly filmed, funny, sexy and more sweet than sour…   My only suggestion is that next time they make more of a soap opera of those who return for a second week and recap their previous disasters. I hope there is a next time.”
Andrew Billen, The Times

“It’s puerile, yes, silly as silly. Nothing wrong with that; quite a lot right with that, actually. It’s also brilliantly performed by Martin Trenaman and co, and brilliantly written and made by Phil Bowker.”
Sam Wollaston, The Guardian