TV Critics: Rome's Lost Empire; Westminster Abbey; The Trouble with Aid

“It had a lot of intriguing material in it. But if you’d trimmed the factitious narrative spicing from it, you’d have been left with a tight one-hour programme instead of the slightly sprawling one hour and 20 minutes it actually occupied… Essentially, the programme involved the application of a relatively new field of archaeology – satellite surveying – to some important Roman sites… But why on earth did this have to be represented as a personal psycho-drama for a professional who is presumably already well aware that her methods work?””
Tom Sutcliffe, The Independent

“Rome’s Lost Empire wasn’t so much a documentary as an adventure in time and space… Once or twice, the commitment to the drama of discovery gets in the way… But all is forgiven in the end, when…we watch [Portus] as it emerges, rebuilt in computer animation…Eat your heart out, Amy Pond.”
Tom Meltzer, The Guardian

“Terms like ‘learning’ and ‘teaching’ are often regarded as dirty words in the TV industry, as audiences are meant to ’engage’ without a whiff of anyone passing on anything that is intellectually worthwhile. So it was a welcome treat to encounter some serious but palatable history on a Sunday night.”
Matt Baylis, Daily Express

“If church fabric is your thing, this series is definitely for you, though after the recent fiasco over women bishops, I couldn’t help feeling that there’s a far more interesting behind the scenes documentary to be made about the Church of England, which we’re far less likely to see.”
Tom Sutcliffe, The Independent

“A gripping tale of humanitarianism gone wrong… At its best it made its often uncomfortable points with a lightness of touch and a strong sense of irony, using footage of war and famine alongside Blue Peter appeals and Bob Geldof to question not just the value of aid, but our give-and-forget attitude to the suffering of others. A cautionary tale then, but also an inspiring one.”
Tom Meltzer, The Guardian