TV Critics: Scott & Bailey; All Creatures, Great and Stuffed; Celebrity Squares

“The show, now in its fourth series, maintains a great balance of personal tensions and police procedures. The opening episode set up the storyline nicely by reopening a historic investigation. It was a lively start.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“I am always going to like Scott & Bailey. Nevertheless I begin to think it could learn a lesson from Doctor Who. Longer scenes and less frenetic plotting, as ordered by Steven Moffat for the new season of Doctor Who, would suit ITV’s female-skewing detective drama.”
Andrew Billen ,The Times

“Scott & Bailey feels like an old-fashioned sort of show. It’s reminiscent of TV of the Eighties: gritty stories, a gruesome soundtrack and actually quite good while it lasts.”
Matt Baylis, Daily Express

“It’s largely as I remembered it: moderately gripping and watchable in the extreme. Yet it’s also far funnier than I recalled. It’s as if they took one look at Happy Valley’s unrelenting bleakness and misery over on the other side, raised a wry eyebrow and thought, ‘No, that’s not for us’.”
Rebecca Nicholson, The Guardian

“The Killing it ain’t; more a children’s game of Let’s Pretend. It doesn’t help that the case is wrapped up in one episode. No sooner is a visit made to the deceased’s nasty parents than the vital clue is spotted. I won’t be watching again.”
Christopher Howse, The Telegraph

“Was Matt Rudge’s documentary really about taxidermy? We were repeatedly told of the increasing popularity of the art, but the more fascinating objects of inspection were the unusual personalities of those involved. Perhaps the strongest common thread was not after all taxidermy, but what we used to call bad taste.”
Christopher Howse, The Telegraph

“Matt’s problem was that none of the subjects quite trusted him. He hasn’t developed the goofy guileless charm that lets other oddity hunters like Louis Theroux capture their specimens. A smarter interviewer would have asked each of them whether they would do the same with a human body.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“Sure, this revamp’s existence is a reminder that Bob Monkhouse is still missed, but Warwick Davis is a talented, funny chap and his semi-seriousness reminds this viewer of Rob Brydon’s OK-ish recent Saturday night quiz The Guess List.”
Will Dean, The Independent