TV Critics: Super-Powered Owls; No Place To Call Home; Bargain Fever Britain; Better Call Saul

“It is, of course, endlessly fascinating to watch slow-motion footage of an owl who can snatch prey on cue while making sure the camera catches its good side. The most joyful thing about the programme had to be Lloyd and Rose, who love birds more than anyone I’ve ever seen. The pleasure they derived from being surrounded by birds was great to see on TV, not least because I’m sure I wouldn’t have been able to share it in person.”
Tim Dowling, The Guardian

“The film-makers had swallowed a sackful of facts, and were determined to regurgitate them. To illustrate this, stock footage was dug from the archives of generic owls doing owl-type things. Immediately, this ceased to be an idiosyncratic documentary about two specific birds, raised in extraordinary circumstances by exceptional people, and became just another mix-and-match animal programme on BBC2.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“When you see the statistics, our present housing situation appears desperate, chaotic and perversely expensive. When you see what it does to people up close, it looks both deliberate and cruel.”
Tim Dowling, The Guardian

“There’s something very moving about a child whose greatest desire is not for an iPad or a pony, but only for what should be basic necessities. But No Place to Call Home, wasn’t sentimental either. Over the course of 18 months, it very effectively demonstrated how every aspect of daily life is made exponentially more difficult for homeless families, with long-term mental health consequences for the children and their mothers.”
Ellen E Jones, The Independent

“Director Jezza Neumann told his story through these two single-parent families’ children. Their education, confidence and mental health were clearly suffering, although what really came across was how heroically well the two mothers were coping with a crisis caused by a lack of social housing but exacerbated by a bureaucracy ever-ready to declare perfectly decent people “intentionally” homeless. All that this sleight of hand helps is the government’s homelessness statistics.”
Andrew Billen, The Times

“The whole world over people move to where the resources are. What does it mean to have cities occupied only by the well-off, others solely for the poor? Or for home to be nothing to do with roots and belonging, just the place the economy sends you to?”
Matt Baylis, Daily Express

“Bargain Fever Britain cut too many corners and turned a good concept into a heap of boring filler. I’d ask for my money back, but that’s another bargain basement problem: no returns allowed.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“The great charm of Better Call Saul is that it isn’t quite sure what sort of show it wishes to be. In this regard, the Breaking Bad spin-off couldn’t be more different from its predecessor: where that series cranked along, ruthlessly and relentlessly, Saul is an altogether shaggier beast, occasionally scattershot, often happy to slow down and enjoy the view.”
Ed Power, The Telegraph