Call the Midwife; Vera; I Am Andrew Tate; Big Zuu’s 12 Dishes in 12 Hours

“The last time I reviewed Rosie Jones in these pages it was for her documentary about the online abuse she receives for the apparent crime of having cerebral palsy. Jones’s condition was also central to the plot of Call the Midwife. As you would expect from a classy drama series, though, it took a rather more intelligent, humane approach than a bunch of moronic trolls.”
Carol Midgley, The Times

“A lot to work through there, but as ever it was all impeccably handled by writer Heidi Thomas and her cast. The downside of so much story is it can feel like a thread or character you might warm to gets short shrift. The upside is if you’re less enthused by a particular character or idea, another one is soon on its way. In that sense, Call the Midwife is one of the classiest dramas on TV – others could learn a lot from how it manages to address societal issues, stay current and yet still justifies even its most maudlin moments.”
Benji Wilson, The Telegraph

“It’s a thrill. A riot. A giddy, freewheeling, feminist joy and the fact that despite its general popularity, fans my age seem – anecdotally at least – few and far between makes me despair in my fellow millennials’ TV taste. Surely we all know by now that the cardigans and cobblestones are red herrings? This is no twee period drama but a genius Trojan Horse that has been smuggling radical women’s health stories into our sitting rooms for over a decade. A national treasure, certainly, but not for the reasons you’d think.”
Gwendolyn Smith, The i

“Arriving on the heels of Vera’s first-ever Christmas special, this feature-length instalment knew what its dedicated audience wanted and delivered it in spades. But despite ticking all the snug Sunday night procedural boxes, the mystery never sparked to life – not even when a dapper David Leon made a ‘surprise’ return as DS Joe Ashworth (surprising only if you’ve avoided the wall-to-wall press coverage). His hyped comeback ultimately added little to a pedestrian tale of family secrets and criminals hiding in plain sight.”
Ed Power, The i

“I thought this was one of Vera’s simpler plotlines. More interesting was the way that Vera and Joe slowly thawed and warmed to each other again, despite Vera initially suspecting he was a ‘company man’ backstabber and he thinking she was a dinosaur who used computers older than him.”
Carol Midgley, The Times

“Whatever the whys and wherefores, it was undoubtedly good to have Leon back, and he soon took his rightful place upfront with Vera in the tatty Land Rover as a toothsome exposition-tennis partner. Because that’s how Vera works – it’s old-fashioned detective work portrayed in an old-fashioned way, with a pair of dogged sleuths, one unconventional, the other comparatively naive, who talk to each other as they drive places in order to explain to the audience what’s going on.”
Benji Wilson, The Telegraph

“The documentary relies on Tate damning himself with his own mouth, which he certainly does. That said, without more interrogation of how Tate came to be such a phenomenon, the programme is in danger of becoming the liberal equivalent of Nineteen Eighty-Four’s Two Minutes Hate. We get to shake our heads in disgust and feel good about being so horrified, then go back to work, purged and righteous.”
Lucy Mangan, The Guardian

“We heard from both gullible fans and horrified campaigners attempting to negate Tate’s enormous influence on young men. There was no word from his mother, and no mention of his younger sister, nor friends if such exist. Even his kid brother Tristan, a sidekick never not sucking needily on a phallic cigar, seems to have no voice. Near the end of this well-made but demoralising exposé, there was a chilling glimpse of a small daughter. Heaven help her.”
Jasper Rees, The Telegraph

“In the opening episode, an irresistible location – Bologna, Italy – and an overwhelmingly charming guest – the actor Will Poulter – mix to give us the sort of vicarious blast that travelogues always swing for and almost always miss. Bologna seems to have not just the best food in Italy but also a lavish supply of charismatic eccentrics who can showcase it on British light-factual TV.”
Jack Seale, The Guardian