TV Critics: The Joy of Data; Long Lost Family

“It was good clean fun, presented by Hannah Fry, a bright young mathematician who does for numbers what Brian Cox did for space. Fry made data seem like some magical and benign force wafting around all of us: magnetic, unthreatening, a bit sexy. Like Benedict Cumberbatch in Sherlock, essentially.”
Chitra Ramaswamy, The Guardian

“A spirited tour of the information age, taking in the major figures in maths and computing but also stopping off in Victorian statistics, Fifties tea rooms, wearable legbands for dairy cows and futuristic homes in Bristol. It was fascinating stuff, even if the ensuing questions of power and control were rather skated over in this enthusiastic treatment.”
Tim Martin, The Telegraph

“No doubt realising that the maths behind this all-knowing society was as resistible as the society itself, Fry and her director, Cat Gale, produced an exceptionally witty and playful film.”
Andrew Billen, The Times

“The history was entertaining, unlike the blessedly few attempts to explain data science. Delivered as if Hannah’s heart wasn’t quite in it, scrabble letters and obstacle course-tackling students were drafted in to illustrate coding and packet-switching and not really managing it.”
Matt Baylis, Daily Express

“Despite the rigid format of Long Lost Family, the show is different each week because no two human lives ever unravel in the same way. Davina and Nicky give people time to express their emotions. The camera strikes a balance, allowing us to be present without intruding at the reunions.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“Presenters Nicky Campbell and Davina McCall – who, God knows, can do glib when they need to – are always sensitive in mediating the reunions, but the series’ strength, almost paradoxically, is its discretion.”
Andrew Billen, The Times

“It was a privilege to watch Vanda and Debbie meet and slightly magical to see a bond there, almost a kind of electricity that had been crackling away ever since she’d first held the baby’s hand.”
Matt Baylis, Daily Express

“This wasn’t a flashy documentary, but it didn’t need to be; the generous, decent people on the boats made fascinating television by themselves.”
Tim Martin, The Telegraph

“If you’ve got a taste for gory autopsy scenes, and enjoy seeing a corpse’s liver detonate like a hand grenade, this show is for you. If you enjoy wild conspiracy theories about bio-warfare, declaimed by actors with perfect American TV hair, you’ll love it better still. Everyone else should treat it as highly toxic.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail