Adam Lambert: Out, Loud and Proud; Federer: Twelve Final Days

“I enjoyed spending an hour in Lambert’s company, wavering between being ushered on to the dancefloor and into the polling booth. His chat with MNEK about the use of pronouns in pop songs is complex and fascinating, as are Skin’s insights into what she sees as the erasure of Skunk Anansie’s biggest moment. As a whole, though, it feels like it is struggling to work out what the main event is meant to be.”
Rebecca Nicholson, The Guardian

“It is a powerful underdog story, and with Pride month underway, there is no better time to tell it. But, while Lambert is an enthusiastic and charismatic presenter (if a strange choice, as an American, to present this entirely British story), his survey of queer pop history has a rushed run-time of just an hour – not nearly long enough to do justice to a rich and complex tapestry. I wish the story of queer pop had been given more time and space over several episodes.”
Ed Power, The i

“The programme was a whistlestop journey studying the impact of LGBTQ+ musicians on music in Britain over the decades, interviewing Andy Bell from Erasure and Skin from Skunk Anansie about the problems they have faced. It was instructive to see how much has changed since the days when MTV ludicrously banned Queen’s I Want to Break Free video because the band members, mimicking Coronation Street, were in drag.”
Carol Midgley, The Times 

“Nice guys do finish first, but they don’t make thrilling documentary subjects. Federer: Twelve Final Days is a respectful valedictory tribute covering the close of Roger Federer’s tennis career, from the moment he records his retirement announcement to his final appearance on court at the Laver Cup in London. Behind-the-scenes access will please Federer fans, but the best documentaries are the ones that dig into the angst and the excess, and Federer is just too Swiss for that.”
Anita Singh, The Telegraph