“These people don’t behave or speak like real people, they behave and speak like a sitcom family.” Read on for the verdict on last night’s TV.

Hebburn, BBC2

“It’s not the easiest thing for a comedy to establish itself in the viewer’s affections in just one episode, but Hebburn does it. It has a great cast, but more importantly than that it has sufficient sharpness of characterisation for them to show how good they can be right from the off.”
Tom Sutcliffe, The Independent

“It’s fairly traditional family sitcom fare – neither brave nor original. Vic Reeves’s presence (he’s the dad) doesn’t bring a touch of the surreal you might hope for from him. But it’s not real either; these people don’t behave or speak like real people, they behave and speak like a sitcom family.”
Sam Wollaston, The Guardian

“Young writers are allowed to be fascinated by where they grew up, but in the case of Jason Cook and Hebburn, you really wonder why… The Hebburn of Hebburn merely confirms stereotypes: porkers in vests, ‘loveable slappers’ (a quote), dim mums, and dads with hearts of gold and cholesterol.”
Andrew Billen, The Times

My Tattoo Addiction, Channel 4

“Yonni Usiskin’s film was a freak show, but to its credit it got beneath the skin a little too.”
Tom Sutcliffe, The Independent

“Interesting. And quite sad really. Because so many of these tattoos have sad stories behind them – of drunken idiocy and lost loves. And because you know that for most of these people this isn’t the end of it, that they’ll make the same mistakes again and slowly they will have themselves inked in. And also because no one actually looks better covered in tattoos.”
Sam Wollaston, The Guardian

Tails You Win: the Science of Chance, BBC4

“Here and there were dotted some neat examples that caught the attention but much of Spiegelhalter’s lecture sent the mind skidding into confusion. You probably needed some grasp of statistics to get the most out of this film.”
Matt Baylis, Daily Express

“Worryingly, I could follow almost everything the avuncular Professor David Spiegelhalter explained: why, statistically, it makes more sense to skydive when you are 58 than 18, why scientific determinism is undermined by sub-atomic particles, and why weather forecasts should come with percentage probabilities. But our tutor rushed over the real puzzlers.”
Andrew Billen, The Times

Topics