TV Critics: Stonemouth; The Tribe; The Marriage of Reason and Squalor

“The adaptor, David Kane, has included so much of the book’s first-person narration that episode one was virtually an illustrated reading. Also kept are so many flashbacks that the present-day narrative fails to acquire pace. It is a properly finished piece, with some visual panache, but Stonemouth sits leadenly with me.”
Andrew Billen, The Times

“The casting of unnaturally attractive young actors and the condensing of a novel-length plot into two hours can result in a story like this losing some of its original depth and texture. Even the usually good-value Peter Mullan couldn’t quite lift his crime-boss character off the page.”
Ellen E Jones, The Independent

“The episode ended in a literal state of suspense, with the narrator himself hanging upside down from a bridge. Still, at least it added some punch. Up until then, Stonemouth’s mysteries had an underwhelming flavour.”
Jasper Rees, The Telegraph

“Stonemouth looked at first as if there was little new about it. But the stale feeling of deja vu was quickly overpowered by the strength of the storytelling. And Peter Mullan was superb, as he always is. Even if you can’t stand edgy, cynical dramas about drug-dealing Scottish businessmen, you have to watch his first scene.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“Visually, Stonemouth is fabulous. And as a thriller, though it lacks true knuckle-chewing suspense, it works well enough. But the love story is dissatisfying and uninvolving.”
Sam Wollaston, The Guardian

“Rather than stare anthropologically at Ayke Muko’s family, The Tribe involves us in their daily lives. It is gripping, possibly the best use of reality television yet.”
Andrew Billen, The Times

“Ayke Muko reminded me of Deirdre’s mum, Blanche, from Coronation Street, or Lou Beale, of EastEnders, regal, impossible, but somehow loveable. What this series is doing, brilliantly, I think, is turning the exotic into soap opera, reminding us all, along the way, that we are all one tribe.”
Matt Baylis, Daily Express

“’Families are the same way the world over’ seemed to be the main theme of The Tribe. Ayke Muko’s second son Arrada is the first Hamar tribes-person to get a mobile phone, for instance. Arrada uses his prized possession for much the same purposes as any young man in any other part of the world: chatting up girls and watching funny internet videos, mainly.”
Ellen E Jones, The Independent

“The Tribe was masquerading as a serious study. But it felt so fake, it could have been called TOWIE: The Only Way Is Ethiopia. Carefully selected shots encouraged us to imagine, without explicitly saying as much, that these people were primitives cut adrift in the 21st century. But a carelessly framed shot near the end told a rather different story. Reality TV producers must assume that we’re all very gullible indeed.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“The twaddlesome fantasies spun by the pink duchess of drivel Barbara Cartland and indeed thwacky language-mangler EL James richly merit every kicking that comes their way. But taken purely as television drama, this assault on the genre was like shooting fish in a barrel with a broken blunderbuss. Failing to engage on any level, the whole project seems infected with a snarling spirit of sadistic mockery.”
Jasper Rees, The Telegraph