TV Critics: It's Not Rocket Science; Better Call Saul; Cuckoo; Mid Morning Matters

“It’s Not Rocket Science was as painful as a maths teacher who thinks he is ‘down with the kids’. Could an Olympic sprinter outrun a Red Arrow jet as it accelerated to take-off? We didn’t find out because this isn’t the sort of programme that offers much by way of facts or detail. It preferred posturing to statistics.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“Somewhere, in the distant DNA of this show, some bright spark probably had an idea about making a popular, fun science show, in which people learned about stuff while being entertained. It seems that the learning went the way of the humans’ tail and the dodo, leaving a show about… what? We don’t know.”
Matt Baylis, Daily Express

“I love it all, because it is hilarious but also really really sad, and touching, and human. The longer it takes Jimmy McGill to get to Saul and beyond, to the monochrome Nebraska mall, the better.”
Sam Wollaston, The Guardian

“Two episodes into the second season of Better Call Saul I’ve got to admit to myself: it’s not working. It’s slow, painfully slow. Perhaps this mirrors the tedious pace of small court law, but it doesn’t make for great TV.”
Christopher Hooton, The Independent

“This was a brisk and breezy reintroduction to the Saul-o-verse that rarely strained for the giddy dramatic heights achieved in the first season. And that was fine.”
Ed Power, The Telegraph

“This modern-era comedy seems the perfect fit for the digital age. I imagine fans will continue to enjoy watching the series online. I only worry that up-and-coming talent will fail to flourish in BBC3’s newfound format.”
Daisy Wyatt, The Independent

“It was good to see Cuckoo again, even if the joke of the naively dangerous north American cuckoo in the nest of the staid Lichfield family is wearing a little thin, and Lorna’s birth scene was no funnier than hundreds of others.”
Andrew Billen, The Times

“The script is red hot. Start double-screening on your phone for more than a second and you will miss a tactless aside or a blundering gaffe. There’s not much narrative drive and the episode feels more like series of sketches, but it works.”
Daisy Wyatt, The Independent

“We’ve now followed Partridge’s career trajectory from sports reporter to chat show host, then back down the ladder to local radio windbag. Viewed as a whole, it makes an admirably ambitious, endlessly creative and consistently hilarious body of work. We should treasure him. But first, traffic and travel…”
Michael Hogan, The Telegraph