TV Critics: The Three Day Nanny; Versailles; Man Down

“This show can offer useful tips to harassed parents, but only if it’s being honest with us. Perhaps this hard-working woman really was completely on her own, in which case she needed professional help — not just a camera crew popping in for the weekend, with beanbags and gold stars to make everything better.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“Watching Rosie battle with the strong-willed, clingy toddlers was exhausting, even for someone watching from a child-free sofa. This might have been an enlightening look at the realities of parenting post-break up, but it didn’t look like an awful lot of fun.”
Chloe Hamilton, The i

”Ultimately, nothing that nanny Kathryn Mewes said last night, or any other night, was that stunning. Rosie’s story was still worth watching, though, not least as a reminder that people can end up in a right mess through no fault of their own.”
Matt Baylis, Daily Express

“Every scene was a tableau of shop mannequins in badly fitting fancy dress, posed by someone who vaguely remembered seeing some Rembrandt group portraits on a school trip. It was so awful we’ll miss it dreadfully — but thankfully a second series has already been filmed. Vive la tosh!”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“The series had more flaws than even Louis did. The leads were forced to deliver speeches rather than dialogue, and those speeches rarely betrayed any humour. The result was that, for all the rumpy-pumpy, the series had majesty but very little intimacy.”
Andrew Billen, The Times

“I don’t mind predictability. Obviously, in a drama at least based on historical events, I expect it. But the packing promised a sophistication the whole thing ultimately lacked.”
Julia Raeside, The Guardian

“Versailles has aspired to hit two quite separate targets: to take itself deeply seriously as a historical saga, while simultaneously rejoicing in its rock-video silliness. As a later occupant of the Palais de Versailles once nearly said, let them have their cake and eat it.”
Jasper Rees, The Telegraph

“A bit like Dan, Man Down suffers from an identity crisis. It serves up a standard diet of absurdity (many of the other gargoyles are stupid or boring) mixed in with generous dollops of delusional self-pity. The flavours don’t go, and the script resorts to crude signposting.”
Jasper Rees, The Telegraph

“Although the final moments of this episode were marred by a sentimental montage of Brian’s girls at the funfair, its message was stark enough: Man Down is about a man not down but standing – all alone.”
Andrew Billen, The Times