TV Critics: Hatfields & McCoys; The Town That Caught Tourette's; Scandal

“Hatfields & McCoys is like a hillbilly version of Dallas. Everyone’s a bit of a scumbag, so it’s hard to care what happens to them, which is just as well, because folks die regularly, without much preamble, in fairly gory ways. They all speak in roundabout, cod-mountain man English, and the whole thing is steeped in the kind of American backwoods atmosphere you only get by filming in Romania. I’ll take it over Dallas every time.”
Sam Wollaston, The Guardian

“Hatfields & McCoys has enough quid-spitting grit in it to keep you watching, and Costner reminds you that he can command a screen, in the right kind of inexpressive role.”
Tom Sutcliffe, The Independent

“If you are a fan of violent, but not necessarily bloody, westerns, H&M will have delighted you. If you find grown men murdering each other because one accuses the other of ‘fornicating with a hound dog’ and the gratuitous killing of a disabled man by a couple of inadequates sad rather than intriguing, then the show will not have been for you.”
Andrew Billen, The Times

“There are splendid performances by a cast ranging from Hollywood faces like Kevin Costner to ex-EastEnders star Joe Absolom. The real genius, though, is in the way the era is brought to life… The South of the Hatfield-McCoy feaud looks like the Old Testament, devoid of any justice but the vengeance of the mob: primitive, wild and often downright ugly.”
Matt Baylis, Daily Express

“In spite of its sensational title, this was a thoughtful investigation, which explored a genuine mystery from every angle, and didn’t settle on a single answer.”
Sam Wollaston, The Guardian

“This documentary did not purport to have solved the mystery. At least this set it apart from all the experts who piled in.”
Andrew Billen, The Times

“I wish The Town That Caught Tourette’s had arrived at some definite conclusions. Then again I wouldn’t have been happy with them.”
Matt Baylis, Daily Express

“Everyone in Scandal talks in fluent Sorkinese – that rattling 90mph dialogue in which there’s never an um or an urr and only rarely a pause for breath. Sorkinese involves elaborately knowing psychological projections, a lot of ponderous irony, and bullet-point rhetoric in which none of the bullet points are ever forgotten. I find it very tiresome myself, but if you don’t you might enjoy this cheerfully ludicrous tale.”
Tom Sutcliffe, The Independent