“Hardly surprising really that Wallander should find it difficult to relax at night, and it does raise the question of why so many viewers find this anguished panorama of human depravity and sorrow a soothing way to see out the weekend. It’s not one I can answer myself.”
Tom Sutcliffe, The Independent

“Branagh here was more lugubrious than even the two great Swedish-language interpreters of Wallander, Rolf Lassgård and Krister Heriksson (not that it’s a competition – each is cherishable). The script is tauter, the photography more claustrophobic than ever. It still seems wrong he speaks English and yet reads newspapers with Swedish headlines, though.”
Stuart Jeffries, The Guardian

“It was tense, it was moody and it was, if not unguessable, at least complicated enough to be worth an hour and a half of our loyalty.”
Matt Baylis, The Express

“It probably remains the best of the current maverick detective shows, not counting the subtitled Swedish ones. Unlike Lewis it glories in its unattractive setting.”
Andrew Billen, The Times

“It’s Shakespeare that’s great, of course, but so far in this excellent series nobody has let him down.”
Tom Sutcliffe, The Independent

“It was a marvellously austere production that made fun-loving Falstaff nearly as dour as Branagh’s Wallander. Other productions, as Irons showed in Shakespeare Uncovered, have gone for gags (the 2010 Globe production of the play looked like a laugh riot), most of which Eyre cut.”
Stuart Jeffries, The Guardian

“It provided a painstakingly accurate depiction of 13^th century England but I kept wondering when Baldrick and Blackadder were going to put in an appearance.”
Matt Baylis, The Express

“Was it as good as last week’s The Hollow Crown? No, but Richard II is the richer play; HIV Pt1 was merely one of the Bard’s everyday masterpieces. The BBC may even have made it look better than it is, which is meant as a front-handed compliment.”
Andrew Billen, The Times

“The action is muddled and unconvincing and the characterisation Saturday-matinee thin. Pre-war Basra looked impressive, though.”
Tom Sutcliffe, The Independent