TV Critics: Natural World; Steptoe and Son; Bake Off; Ross Kemp

“The best wildlife footage you’re likely to see this week, or any other for a long while. This was an excellent documentary, marred only by its insistence of showing us, since this was Brazil, aerial shots of Christ The Redeemer, overlooking Rio. Honestly, we’ve seen that often enough this year.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“Last week the internet was clogged with images of grinning or scowling children being photographed before they headed back to school. I’m not saying the thrill of watching a young jaguar cub slaying a capybara is quite the same as watching a year 2 class assembly but there are parallels.”
Matt Baylis, Daily Express

“After a lot of splashing, scratching, clawing and biting, they get there in the end. One fewer capybara in the world, two fuller jaguars. But hey, that’s nature, red in tooth and claw and all that.”
Sam Wollaston, The Guardian

“Two-handers are rare enough these days to be an event on television and, I thought, Ed Coleman as Harold and Jeff Rawle as his father, Albert, did well in their new version. Then I watched the mislaid original. This Lost Sitcom was unnecessary and misleading.”
Andrew Billen, The Times

“It didn’t feel like Coleman and Rawle quite captured the real rags ’n’ bones misery of Corbett and Brambell. Even their movements lacked the violence that the original pair brought to their relationship. What they did pull off, in spades, used shovels and the rest, was the tenderness.”

Matt Baylis, Daily Express

“Mel and Sue demonstrated exactly how crucial they are to Bake Off’s phenomenal success – pepping up the mood, poking fun at the judges, supportively bantering with the bakers – and how hard they will be to replace.”
Michael Hogan, The Telegraph

“When Top Gear went off-road last year, following Clarkson’s meltdown, it was jaded and years past its best. As Bake Off is proving, it’s still at its peak, with much left to explore.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“I am coming to the conclusion that I don’t fully understand any foreign affairs crisis until Ross Kemp has risked his neck by striding into it. Indeed, the only weak part was Kemp’s interview with the Arizona senator Jonathan Kavanagh. Paxmanning men in suits is not Kemp’s forte.”
Andrew Billen, The Times