TV Critics: Guy Martin; Doctor Who; The Hunt

“For a non-enthusiast, this one is maybe a tad heavy on the engineering. I’m not sure it’s a natural fit for television. A little less lowering, greasing, testing, and a trim to an hour would have made a better, tighter doc.”
Sam Wollaston, The Guardian

“This was a longish documentary, but I could have watched a lot more of it in Guy Martin’s company: his energy and enthusiasm were positively infectious.”
Tim Martin, The Telegraph

“This 90-minute documentary was badly let down by one detail: Guy didn’t manage to fly in a Vulcan. He jacked one up and tightened its bolts, he crawled around inside the intakes, he even got to taxi one along the runway. But he didn’t get airborne.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“Normally watching Guy fly, drive or ride something wouldn’t matter a hoot to me. But it’s a measure of how much I relished his Vulcan adventure that I wanted him to fly off in full glory.”
Matt Baylis, Daily Express

“Heaven Sent is one of the most uncompromising pieces of TV the show has ever done. It is positively avant-garde in its themes, tone and execution. If you like your Berman and your Beckett you’ll probably get a hell of a lot more out of it than if you tuned in expecting ray guns and rubber monsters.”
Jon Cooper, The Independent

“The ironically titled Heaven Sent was as near a work of expressionist cinema as prime time Saturday night BBC One is likely to get. Peter Capaldi gave a bravura performance. It was much better than last week’s poorly acted, trivial send-off to Clara and so much more ambitious than any other drama you will have seen on BBC1 this year.”
Andrew Billen, The Times

“I wouldn’t like to have to explain this episode’s grim view of eternal suffering to a seven-year-old. The episode’s chilling metaphor for eternity actually dates back to the work of the 17th-century Jesuit Jeremias Drexel, but I suspect that, in 20 years, legions of therapists will be buying houses on the back of this modern interpretation alone.”
Tim Martin, The Telegraph

“The three lions v Buffalo bout is primal, gladiatorial – I actually felt guilty watching. As well as a little bit thrilled.”
Sam Wollaston, The Guardian

“The ants’ strong, writhing bodies were exactly like a scene from A Bug’s Life and the daily battle they faced just to get food was worthy of a film in itself. When nature is this good, who needs Disney?”
Amy Burns, The Independent