TV Critics: The Secret Life of the Sun; The Voice UK; The White Queen; The Returned; Micro Monsters; The Many Faces of Dame Helen Mirren; Trojan Donkey

“Kate Humble is the physics teacher you wish you had been taught by and her excitement about matters that others might find mundane was infectious… Accessible and informative? Sounds like the perfect introduction to the wonders of the solar system for children.”
Isabel Mohan, The Telegraph

“There were several moments when I yelled: ‘Get on with it,’ as she indulged in yet another time-wasting sequence of fatuous jeopardy when (resentful face) she should have been explaining how solar-like fusion might power my foot spa.”
Stuart Jeffries, The Guardian

“There were spectacular moments here in footage secured by various solar observatories, revealing the sun as a roiling nuclear furnace, spitting gouts of energy into space. It’s so fascinating to look at that it’s hard to understand why they spend so much time on another stalwart of these shows – the moving spectacle of the presenter in a state of awe at a moving spectacle.”
Tom Sutcliffe, The Independent

“According to some sources, solar activity is leading us into another mini-ice age, like the one that led to ‘frost fairs’ on the frozen Thames in the 17^th century. Good news for people worried about global warming, I guess.”
Matt Baylis, Daily Express

“The final of The Voice has disastrously confirmed the singing competition’s fatal reputation for niceness… Andrea Begley sang angelically; the trouble is that she, her coach Danny O’Donaghue and the show’s producers decided to market her as an angel too… Would any of this have happened if Andrea had not been blind and worn glasses, the ugliness of which recalled the golden years of Nana Mouskouri? It is one thing for a contestant to benefit from a sympathy vote; it is another for that vote to be courted.”
Andrew Billen, The Times

“The acts can at least go home safe in the knowledge that they weren’t nearly as embarrassing as some of the star turns – the coaches’ mauling of Daft Punk’s summer anthem Get Lucky, and the fact that Robbie Williams performed wearing a wax jacket emblazoned with the name of an illegal file-sharing site, both seemed like desperate failed bids to appear youthful and relevant.”
Isabel Mohan, The Telegraph

“Emma Frost’s propulsive potboiler of an adaptation is even more delectably unreliable than Philippa Gregory’s novel. Did anyone in 15th-century England say ‘Stay safe’ or ‘I’m sorry for your loss’?… As for who’s who, I couldn’t tell duke from second lickspittle. The War of the Roses is intractable enough without calling all the men Richard, Henry or Edward and making all the women either identikit hotties or bilious crones snarling at each other from beneath comedy hats.”
Stuart Jeffries, The Guardian

“For atmosphere, visual panache and shocks there’s nothing else just now to beat, or even compete with, the French supernatural drama… The characterisation and plotting can be less impressive and last week’s episode, let’s be honest, bordered on the silly. But episode three picked up the ball and ran with it from the off… The result overall was the perfect horror drama tease.”
Gerard O’Donovan, The Telegraph

“I didn’t view it in 3D, for which I’m very grateful, given the state of twitchy discomfort these organisms can induce in two dimensions. There was an absolutely horrid sequence in which an Argiope spider was hunted by a Portia spider… I think even an arachnologist might have shrieked at the writhing 16-legged nightmare that resulted.”
Tom Sutcliffe, The Independent

“The whole thing was full of thoughtful comment and revealing clips… There are no firm answers where the appeal of an actress is concerned but this tribute tried hard to give the matter a grown-up going over and that was infinitely preferable to what it could have been. A clip montage, interspersed with actors gushing.”
Matt Baylis, Daily Express

“Channel 4’s new Friday night prank show is pretty funny, setting aside elaborate technological candid camera-type set-ups in favour of encounters between ordinary members of the public.”
Tom Sutcliffe, The Independent