TV Critics: Poldark; Call the Midwife; Indian Summers

“It’s a beautifully filmed Sunday night romp with a nice bit of substance, and plenty to power it over a further seven episodes.”
Alex Hardy, The Times

“There was plenty of pouting and glowering and oohing and aarghing to admire, while Aidan Turner accomplished much manly chin-jutting in the title role. But at no point does Poldark feel as if it’s going to spring a surprise on its audience. It’s a rattling teatime yarn to the tips of its ringlets. Pretty, but without a thought in its head.”
Jasper Rees, The Telegraph

“So far so… all right, I guess. Everyone’s acting their socks off, I haven’t glimpsed a single TV aerial or pierced bellybutton and Trudie Styler is, equally, nowhere to be seen. That’s about as much praise as I can heap on Poldark really, because I can’t quite work out why anyone went to the trouble of remaking it.”
Matt Baylis, Daily Express

“There’s no reason why a straightforwardly enjoyable romantic romp like this shouldn’t capture a loyal audience. Graham’s books may not match the wit and wisdom of Austen, but Aidan Turner seems ready, willing – and shirtless – enough to re-create some Mr Darcy moments.”
Ellen E Jones, The Independent

“New Poldark is pacier and racier than the old, but built on the same chassis. Could they have done a more interesting, reinvention – brought it to the present day? Possibly. But Ross wouldn’t have been allowed those tousled locks in the military today, or got away with the breeches. Which is pretty much the point of Poldark.”
Sam Wollaston, The Guardian

“What a confident writer Heidi Thomas is. She knows that the nine million viewers watching Call The Midwife are not only television’s biggest Sunday night audience, but also its most sophisticated — and she delivers storylines for adults. Other shows might be content to pick a single theme each week. Call The Midwife grabs a fistful and plaits them ingeniously.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“Into the merest hour the script contrived to vacuum-pack the on-off-on-again nuptials of the nuns’ handyman, the arrival on our shores of Thalidomide, a deaf-mute expectant mother very nearly teaching us sign language for vagina, the disposal of Chummy’s mummy’s ashes, and a lesbian bicycle crash. Call the Midwife is in such a tearing hurry it’s no sooner in one ear than out the other.”
Jasper Rees, The Telegraph

“Call the Midwife has all the comforting warmth we expect on Sunday evening but its greater achievement is continuing to tackle real issues of maternity care and women’s lives in the period.”
Ellen E Jones, The Independent

“Lovers were ripped horrifically asunder. Key characters were forced to face terrifying personal truths. Thank goodness for Chummy reappearing, and threatening to make an egg-white face mask into an egg sandwich.”
Alex Hardy, The Times

“Every character in Indian Summers has an agenda – just what that might be remains uncertain but it’s brilliant for viewers because we never know where this show will take us next. The one thing we can be sure of is that the English colonialists were a manipulative, backstabbing bunch.”
Neela Debnath, The Independent

“The more expecations we have of the setting, the more the show needs to confound them, which this one does with deft plot twists and hidden depths to the characters.”
Matt Baylis, Daily Express