TV Critics: Partners in Crime; Dancing Through The Blitz; Experimental

“Part of the enjoyable comfort of Christie on TV is the period detail and the BBC has pulled this off with much more visual flair than ITV ever managed. Raine and Walliams are also as well turned out as Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint, or James Stewart and Kim Novak; it’s only a shame their interactions don’t fizz with the same sexual chemistry.”
Ellen E Jones, The Independent

“David Walliams and Jessica Raine stripped out the tweeness and gave us grown-up lovers we could believe in. These were two superb performances that took a flimsy tale of cloak-and- dagger espionage and transformed it into exciting drama.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“The period is carefully realised, catching the glamour and the squalor. The plot is clever without being unfollowable. No one can complain either about the leads. Yet Partners in Crime never quite catches fire.”
Andrew Billen, The Times

“Episode one could have easily functioned as a novelty Keep Calm and Carry On tea tray, or a Laura Ashley infomercial, or the sole inspiration for The Great British Bake Off. There are signs that the series will get darker as it continues – but it’s not enough to convince that this isn’t just Sunday night TV by numbers.”
Stuart Heritage, The Guardian

“The effort of stuffing the fantastical twists and turns of their debut mystery The Secret Adversary into the confines of a TV script was all too evident in the disappointing opener. Still, there’s a likeable chemistry between Walliams and Raine. So much so that the intricacies of the plot can seem of secondary importance.”
Gerard O’Donovan, The Telegraph

“It might be too early to say whether the latest TV incarnation of Tommy and Tuppence truly rollicks. It certainly looks like a good yarn.”
Matt Baylis, Daily Express

“The sounds took centre stage, which made it possible to overlook the rather weedy history. It was less hard to forget that Ken Goodman’s Big Band Bonanza, shown in December, had covered much the same ground. A bit of BBC nostalgia is fine but BBC amnesia is more worrying.”
Matt Baylis, Daily Express

“Dr Lucy was having the time of her life. All that fun was infectious. My two left feet were tapping like mad.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“Full marks to Channel 4 for attempting to fill the Top Gear slot with Experimental, a show that couldn’t be any more male, or knowingly dumb, if it was presented by Danny Dyer and a Crayola scribble of a willy. It’s giddy, gloriously moronic stuff. And, based on the first episode, might have what it takes to be a Top Gear killer.”
Stuart Heritage, The Guardian