TV Critics: Marcella; James May: The Reassembler; Sex Box

“A few irritations and some clunky dialogue aside, possibly down to translation, Marcella is hugely promising and this first of eight episodes skilfully crammed a lot in.”
Emine Saner, The Guardian

“Marcella was ITV getting in on our appetite for miserable Scandi cop-style drama. In fact the whole implausible thing couldn’t shake the feeling that it’s an excuse for another damaged heroine.”
James Jackson, The Times

“If it sometimes stumbled into cliché, there was ample compensation elsewhere. Anna Friel was brittle and unpredictable in the title role, one moment tearfully devastated by her husband’s betrayal, the next steely in her pursuit of the serial killer. The whole thing felt untethered to reality, which didn’t do much for its credibility but helped it to work surprisingly well as drama.”
Gabriel Tate, The Telegraph

“The first of this eight-part series drifted with a dreamlike quality that was beautiful and disturbing, but completely unmemorable. Most of the time, Friel just seemed to be wondering what was going on, with the suspicion nagging at the back of her mind that she’s picked another duff script.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“Marcella wears clothes common to the average, unadventurous cop show but that is merely a disguise. This series actually copies the trick its creator, Hans Rosenfeldt, pulled off with his previous success The Bridge, mismatched cops, mismatched in a way no human had tried before. Marcella gives us ‘one last job’ and what a job it promises to be.”
Matt Baylis, Daily Express

“A dotty man in a holey jumper drinking tea and explaining about pistons and gudgeon rings while affixing sprockets. Yes, mesmerising! Here’s proof that it’s the simplest of premises that often make for the most original, distinctive programmes.”
James Jackson, The Times

“It proved to be 30 minutes of likeable entertainment — not because many of us care how the throttle works on a 1959 Suffolk Colt mower, but because May was so blissfully in his element. With his long grey hair and newly sprouted white beard, he has gradually become, as he tinkers in his shed, the nation’s grandad.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“The sheer tedium eventually acquired a sort of Zen quality, as the 10 hours-plus it took to put the lawnmower back together began to feel as if they were being shown in real time. I tried to follow what he was talking about but, as a man who struggles to put together a Kinder Surprise toy, had to concede that this was not the show for me, but for men exactly like May.”
Gabriel Tate, The Telegraph

“I rather liked the little snippets of social histpry that crept in along the edges. Yet I could have done with less of the lawnmower being reassembled, which was as interesting as watching a lawnmower being reassembled.”
Matt Baylis, Daily Express

“Presenter Steve Jones mainly just sat on the sidelines like a man who had agreed to take part in a threesome, but was rapidly realising it was a bad idea. Despite Belgian sexologist Goedele Liekens’ best efforts, the post-match analysis was as mechanical and dull as reading a lawnmower manual aloud. Even the word ‘bumhole’ and some illustrative gesticulation couldn’t really liven things up.”
Emine Saner, The Guardian