Buying London; The Great British Sewing Bee

“Prepare to be faintly appalled yet oddly transfixed. Buying London is the precocious, pouty love child of Selling Sunset and Buying Beverly Hills with DNA from The Apprentice and Made in Chelsea thrown into the mix and set to awful Love Island-style music. During a cost of living and housing crisis, is it crass and tin-eared to rub people’s noses in this grotesque, mind-boggling level of wealth? Of course it is! Horribly so. But people will watch it, because this is a penthouse peep show, and noses will be pressed fully to the window.”
Carol Midgley, The Times

“Buying London is one of those ‘constructed reality’ shows which would like you to think it’s a fly-on-the-wall documentary, but mainly consists of phoney conversations, confected drama and lip filler. It is a copy of the wildly popular, LA-based Selling Sunset, but it owes as much to The Only Way is Essex – superficially fun, but ultimately soulless and artificial.”
Anita Singh, The Telegraph

“I hate almost everything about Buying London, the British version of Netflix’s highly successful Selling Sunset, in which grotesquely wealthy people buy property in Los Angeles from glamorous real estate agents whose personalities are plucked from the reality TV presets menu. Which is weird, because I didn’t hate Selling Sunset at all. I saw Selling Sunset as quaffable junk, the sort of telly that passes the time pleasantly. It is hard to feel the same about Buying London, because it is boring and infuriating, and neither are the garnishes I like on my trash.”
Rebecca Nicholson, The Guardian

“Esme Young and Patrick Grant are back as Sewing Bee’s judges, but this is the first full season for presenter Kiell Smith-Bynoe. He brings a more laid-back style than any of the previous hosts, with a light touch of humour instead of the forced jokiness of predecessor Sara Pascoe. The judges seem more relaxed, too, without the obligation to engage in scripted banter.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“I have historically struggled with the staid sensibleness of the programme, now 10 series in – its neat stitches and church fête ambience. And while it might be foolish to judge a whole series on just the opening episode, it already feels less tedious. Maybe even fun. What’s behind Sewing Bee‘s resuscitation? Undoubtedly, new host Kiell Smith-Bynoe has a lot to do with it. His straight-faced silliness undercuts the programme’s inherent tweeness.”
Emily Watkins, The i