TV Critics: Doctor Who; 50 Ways To Kill Your Mammy; Under the Dome

“A blend of Doctor Doolittle and Sherlock Holmes, Capaldi crackled with fierce intelligence and nervous energy. Although the pace sagged in places, as a debut for a new Doctor it worked well with some old-style behind-the-sofa scares and sly humour.”
Michael Hogan, The Telegraph

“Capaldi proved far better than good. He was superlative, delivering a five-star performance in a fatally flawed show. He doesn’t require sheets of human skin or gay subtexts to scare and shock us. In short, what this Doctor really doesn’t need is Steven Moffat.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“What on earth was all the worry? It was obvious within seconds that Capaldi was going to be a class act, combining authority with vulnerability, otherworldliness with worldliness, fun with angst. No disrespect to Smith or any of the others, but we have a true actor in the part this time.”
Andrew Billen, The Times

“Capaldi’s incarnation is hilarious from the off and throws some great one-liners courtesy of Steven Moffat. He is very much removed from Matt Smith’s clumsier and sillier Doctor, yet he keeps the acting physical and can do the slapstick moves when required.”
Neela Debnath, The Independent

“There was something disarmingly sweet and uncynical about Sky1’s 50 Ways to Kill Your Mammy. It could have been an indigestible stew of An Idiot Abroad and one of the channel’s many heartwarming, bloodcurdling comedy-dramas. Instead, by playing dumb, it proved rather clever.”
Andrew Billen, The Times

“There’s not much actual risk in a programme like this so its success really depends on whether there is something inherently comic in watching a small Irish woman fire large automatic weapons (there is, it shames me to say), and whether the relationship between Baz and his mum is in any way tested by these challenges (not really, or at least not yet).”
Sam Wollaston, The Guardian

“The central premise of this six-part adventure documentary – that the very notion of a mum doing anything more exciting than making tea is risible – could have been insulting, but Nancy’s good humour soon dispatched with the stereotype. Never mind Brendan O’Carroll in saggy tights, this Irish mammy is much funnier and an inspiration to us all.”
Ellen E Jones, The Independent

“As sci-fi, Under the Dome is never less than interesting, with the dome’s attitude towards humanity increasingly reminiscent of the alien visitor in the 1951 film The Day the Earth Stood Still. It races along, too.”
Chris Harvey, The Telegraph

“As Under the Dome began a second season, there were dead people seemingly springing back to life and a high school science teacher using household implements to rig up a giant electromagnet. Yet somehow it all felt contained under a lid of credibility. I suppose if you can believe in giant invisible domes, you can suspend your doubt on anything.”
Matt Baylis, Daily Express