TV Critics: Don't Call Me Crazy; The Man with the 10-Stone Testicles; Precision; Rick Stein’s India; The Greatest Shows on Earth; Traveller Feuds

“The film-making here surpassed some of the labels often attached to the Beeb’s yoof channel, by providing a mature and nuanced perspective on mental illness… Another triumph for series producer Richard Macer, and directors Andrew Dedman and Fran Baker, who thoughtfully gathered footage over a year.”
Alex Hardy, The Times

“A sensitive, thoughtful documentary about those for whom adolescence is more than usually bumpy… Beth clearly had faith in the film crew. At one point, she furtively showed them the Diet Coke she’d smuggled into her room, so that she could stave off hunger with the minimal of calories… Did they owe an obligation to her, or to the people who were trying to make her better? Still not sure about the answer to that, but the trust of everyone in front of the cameras in those behind them was repaid by the end result.”
Tom Sutcliffe, The Independent

“I’m not so sure about The Man with the 10-Stone Testicles, although its subject, Warren, appeared drily in control of the humiliations he was subject to… It’s possible, I suppose, that the presence of a film crew tilted Warren’s doctor towards the decision to do his operation pro bono. But I can’t think of any other justification for it.”
Tom Sutcliffe, The Independent

“A few frames living with Wesley Warren Jr and those sniggers were suppressed. His extreme story was told with compassion and detail.”
Alex Hardy, The Times

“It was a documentary that had everything going for it: a fascinating topic, an engaging presenter and high production values. And yet, there were several times when I might as well have been watching one of those Open University physics programmes from the 70s… What I came away with was more an impressionistic guide to measurement, whose main identifying characteristic was its imprecision. It was deeply frustrating, all the more so as the problem was almost certainly mine.”
John Crace, The Guardian

“There are some TV chefs who make you feel as if you should be taking notes and that everything they say is true, for ever. But when Rick knocks up a curry on his Indian boathouse, I am happy to watch and enjoy, to worry about recreating it later and to change the bits that don’t seem to work so well.”
Matt Baylis, Daily Express

“Donovan has a gift both for getting on with the people she hooks up with along the way and for being a natural in front of the camera. She makes you feel as if you are living the experience with her, rather than an outsider whom she has reluctantly been forced to invite along.”
John Crace, The Guardian

”It’s not clear what caused the traveller’s brutal but honest tradition [of solving disputes with a fist fight] to become disrupted, although the ability to shame and goad one’s enemies to an infinite audience via the internet might be one factor. Another might be the large sums of money that are sometimes gambled on the outcome of the bouts. A third might be some sections of the media, who treat the traveller feuds almost like a gladiatorial attraction.”
Matt Baylis, Daily Express