TV Critics: The Route Masters; Something for Nothing; Gibraltar; The Call Centre

“This did have its moments… But the film’s bottom line was basically about gridlock. Cars stuck in traffic jams; people watching screens of cars stuck in jams and trying to find a slightly less congested detour; and blokes putting out traffic cones. It’s hard to make that interesting – and it wasn’t very. Not after the first 20 minutes. Still, at least Boris Johnson didn’t make an appearance, which was a big plus.”
John Crace, The Guardian

“It had some problems as an hour-long film, since watching people trying to untangle traffic jams turns out to be only marginally more interesting than actually sitting in them… But it was saved by its characters, including Indra, an ex-Gurkha member of the Incident Response team whose commitment to keeping London on the move included giving pedestrians a piggy-back through a flooded underpass.”
Tom Sutcliffe, The Independent

“Keeping traffic moving through the prehistoric village that is our capital is not just an art, it is a miracle. Yet director Frankie Fathers struggled to keep our interest, even when a helicopter crashed into a crane above the Vauxhall Gyratory. The programme came alive at the end, however, with the good will of a champion pothole repairer and former Ghurka called Indra.”
Andrew Billen, The Times

“It could have been immensely dull or at least of interest only to the sort of people who subscribe to Traffic Management Quarterly. It wasn’t, though, largely because it was less about traffic and more about the people who spend their lives helping it to move along.”
Matt Baylis, Daily Express

“It rather looked as if Harry Wallop’s poshness, charm and sense of humour is what really counts when you are on the scrounge… There was also more than a hint throughout the film that one of the most successful ways to get something for nothing is to say you are making a television programme… What saved this programme was Harry. He did come across as a nice bloke and, beneath his bumbling exterior, is probably quite bright with it. All he needs is better subject matter.”
John Crace, The Guardian

“You couldn’t help but wonder how helpful it is to have a camera crew in tow, an expensive accessory that has a positively magical effect when some chancer turns up asking for free pizzas and beer, as Harry did when he set out to organise a completely free party… If you try the same thing without the backup of a television commission, I’m guessing that more often than not you don’t get.”
Tom Sutcliffe, The Independent

“It’s a rock of great contrasts clearly: quaintness and dullness, sunny weather and atrocious weather, expats and apes. Whether it’s the world’s most exciting place doesn’t matter really: the point is that there is a tiny rock, in the sea just off the coast of Spain, covered in monkeys, where the people drink tea and worship the Queen. An idea so wonderful it sounds as if someone made it up.”
Matt Baylis, Daily Express

“When I reviewed its debut, I mistook The Call Centre for just another docu-soap… Now, I realise we are watching each week young people of infinite difference, that even Nev is not so terrible, and The Call Centre is work of intelligence and beauty. Either that, or last night’s edition was a particularly good one.”
Andrew Billen, The Times