TV Critics: The Fall; Babylon; Puppy Love

“The Fall has an elegance that is as transfixing as it is troubling: gliding across surfaces, it finds a beauty in some of the ugliest acts of all. One episode in, this once again feels like the most sophisticated drama on British television.”
Benjamin Secher, The Telegraph

“The Fall has lost its superfluous sectarian-gangster subplot and is as a result a purer thing. No thriller on television is as gripping as this or as well acted. Jamie Dornan’s Spector fizzes with aberrant masculinity.”
Andrew Billen, The Times

“Two brilliant performances, from Jamie Dornan and Gillian Anderson. She is utterly mesmerising. He is believable both as psychopath and lovely, beautiful man, which is what makes him so scary.”
Sam Wollaston, The Guardian

“Fans of the slow-burn approach taken in series ones will have been delighted; those hoping for a pay-off after months of patience may have justifiably despaired. The Fall still wants to be your favourite slow-paced neo-Scandi-noir, and it isn’t changing tack for the sake of an impatient audience.”
Joseph Carlton, The Independent

“The Fall has been called stylish. Stylish means being concerned not with the interests of the audience or with portraying the characters in credible, life-like ways, but being concerned only with how pretty it all looks.”
Matt Baylis, Daily Express

“We are in Armando Iannucci-ish territory here: a world of wisecracks, absurdist scenarios, and occasional moments of topical satirical bite. Is there depth below the comedy? Some well-angled satire suggests so. I found the show’s social conscience oddly convincing.”
Joseph Carlton, The Independent

“Certainly Babylon had panache and strong performances. Its biggest problem, though, was that however entertaining such inward-looking intra-institutional, jargon-laced, wonk comedy may be in the context of spin-obsessed politicians, Olympics organisers or the BBC, it just doesn’t sit comfortably where the harsh realities of policing are involved.”
Gerard O’Donovan, The Telegraph

“It is to the police what Twenty Twelve and W1A were to the Olympics and the BBC, though bolder, sharper, swearier. As you’d expect with Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong writing, there are some glorious lines.”
Sam Wollaston, The Guardian

“The Scotland Yard scenes are basically The Thick of It and the dialogue, although sharp, is highly derivative of it. The coarser cops-on-the-ground scenes belong, as in the pilot, to an inferior comedy. They lower Babylon’s brand saliency.”
Andrew Billen, The Times

“Vivky Pepperdine and Joanna Scanlan make a hugely satisfying comic duo, deliciously contrasting in both stature and manner. At times, the humour here strayed too far into the slapstick. But, by the end of the episode, Scanlan and Pepperdine had somehow nudged both Nana V and Naomi Singh from the ridiculous to the sympathetic.”
Benjamin Secher, The Telegraph

“It’s a brilliant, beautifully observed sitcom, with fur and waggy tails to boot. An acutely judged comedy that makes you wince without ever turning vicious. Doggy treats all round.”
Matt Baylis, Daily Express