TV Critics: The Paedophile Next Door; The Missing; The Real Tom Thumb

“Eddie’s story was grimly hopeful, in as much as it could be in a programme tackling such a devastating subject, but Humphries didn’t quite have the courage to make the whole programme about him. It was clearly the story to be told.”
Rebecca Nicholson, The Guardian

“The documentary failed because it never got to grips with exactly what such treatment would involve. How did the counselling work? How do you talk to a paedophile about their sexual desires? How regularly was each person monitored? It only spoke of this radical approach to limiting abuse in frustratingly abstract terms.”
Ben Lawrence, The Telegraph

“It’s the realistic details of this scenario that makes this drama series so tough to watch. This show really is the stuff of nightmares and news reports.”
Neela Debnath, The Independent

“Just when we thought The Missing might be running out of ideas, BBC One’s absorbing drama about a tormented father’s quest to find a son abducted years ago, pulled off a darkly spectacular coup de theatre.”
Gerard O’Donovan

“Like many history documentaries, this one left us having to balance the contradictions on our own. Stratton may have been exploited but Tom Thumb gave him a good life”
Matt Baylis, Daily Express