Apples Never Fall; Celebrity SAS; Mortimer & Whitehouse

“Apples Never Fall feels like a poor imitation – a trope-laden pastiche of an already soapy genre. It’ll sate anyone wanting their latest fix of waspy families and their scandalous secrets, but has little original to offer.”
Isobel Lewis, The i

“The script, from showrunner Melanie Marnich, is frequently heavy-handed, but there’s enough in the material to keep viewers’ interest for seven episodes. And while it doesn’t stick the landing in the same way as Big Little Lies, the rug-pull in the seventh chapter manages, in tennis terms, to be a comfortable put-away, even if it’s not quite a smash.”
Nick Hilton, The Independent

“The problem with this flatlining thriller is there is absolutely no one to root for. Everyone turns out to have boilerplate relationship problems and monotonous daddy issues, and long before the underwhelming denouement Joy’s disappearance has become a mystery wrapped in a mouldy rag stuffed in a second-hand duffel bag.”
Jasper Rees, The Telegraph

“The ‘reality TV star’ Bobby Norris, who used to be in Towie, was quickly branded the ‘most pathetic’ of the 15 contestants after he miserably failed the first challenge, to walk across a very high bridge on two metal bars, trembling and crying before he’d even put a foot on it. The ex-SAS man Jason Fox said, ‘It’s boring as f*** watching you shake like a shitting dog,’ and he wasn’t wrong.”
Carol Midgley, The Times

“I began to worry how some of them even passed their psych evaluation before being let on the show. Tears, panic and gut-spewing – particularly from Norris – had set in before they even got out of the cars. Even an introduction to the newest staff member, SAS psychologist Dr Alia, who says she cleared them all herself prior to filming, did little to soothe the uncomfortable viewing.”
Tilly Pearce, The i

“When someone called Bobby Norris dissolves into a gibbering mess at the prospect of crossing a walkway suspended above a canyon (to be fair, it looked terrifying) the instructors yelled at him but later invited him into the interrogation room for a sympathetic discussion about his mental health and addiction to Botox. Rachel Johnson got an even easier ride, with the conversation taking on the tone of a convivial night in the pub. This was all very pleasant, but have these SAS hardmen lost their edge? We want to see pampered celebrities being put through hell, not treated to a lovely chat.”
Anita Singh, The Telegraph

“Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing is still the warm, bucolic bath it has always been but last night there was an extra treat. In a Norfolk pub Mortimer said Whitehouse had a unique brain that could access his old characters instantly and challenged him to do so. Suits You; Rowley Birkin QC; Ron Manager: Whitehouse did them all, seamlessly, though his Ron Manager didn’t say ‘jumpers for goalposts’, alas. I wish we could have had a bit more of that. This show is about nostalgia and I feel nostalgic for The Fast Show.”
Carol Midgley, The Times

‘We’ve grown so fond of Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing that occasionally it’s worth standing back and looking at it. It’s two men in their sixties, going fishing. Sometimes they sit in companionable silence. Mostly they chat. They stop in the middle to have lunch, and also to discuss the lunch. Heaven knows how it got commissioned by the BBC. But thank goodness it did.”
Anita Singh, The Telegraph

“The laughter was parcelled out in modest portions, and much of the episode consisted of meditative silences. Still, it was never boring, and there was something comforting about spending time with two men absolutely at ease in one another’s company. As they sat there, chuckling or simply not saying anything at all, a nourishing calmness radiated from the screen.”
Ed Power, The i