“This is a programme I won’t forget in a hurry.”

Frontline Fighting: The Brits Battling Isis, Channel 4

“While on-the-ground battle footage has undeniable impact, so much of this story is missing in favour of all-action reportage. Perhaps because film-makers Mauricio Gris and George Tyldesley are themselves former soldiers, they can’t offer an outsider’s perspective and never really explore beneath the noble utterings and proud displays of bullet wounds in young skin.”
Julia Raeside, The Guardian

“This was a frontline combat stripped down to its barest bones. I didn’t know whether to salute them for their commitment or shake them for the sheer foolhardiness and futility of it all. But I do know that this is a programme I won’t forget in a hurry.”
Sally Newall, The Independent

“I have no hesitation in calling Jim, Harry and Jac heroes. Heroic too were the three film-makers, Mauricio Gris, George Tyldesley and Michael McEvoy, who by following these men’s every manoeuvre were just as likely to have lost their lives to bring us this powerful, unexpected film.”
Andrew Billen, The Times

Horizon: Are Video Games Really That Bad

“A rigorous, if not entirely compelling hour. We got a tour of the universities at the forefront of gaming research, each professor given their own jazzily shot introduction. But I really wanted to see more of the gamers themselves.”
Sally Newall, The Independent

“Does anyone (apart from in a few Amish commuinities, perhaps) think that all video games are bad? Isn’t the point, everyone’s point, that playing ultra-real games involving the repeated and casual taking of life might be bad? The jury wasn’t just out, the lawyers were fighting the wrong case.”
Matt Baylis, Daily Express

The Sound of ITV, ITV

“The trouble with compilations is that they leave viewers itching to watch the original shows. Play us ten seconds of the music from The Sweeney or the title sounds of The Avengers, and we’re left feeling teased and frustrated.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“If ITV had as much class these days as the composers it honoured last night it would put on a concert of their work at the Royal Albert Hall asap.”
Andrew Billen, The Times

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