A House Through Time; Everyone Else Burns; Absolutely Fabulous: Inside Out; Rivals

“David Olusoga and his team chose their buildings very well and the research is meticulous. This is a fresh way of looking at a very well-covered, terrible period of history. It absolutely works.”
Carol Midgley, The Times

“Our appetite for history programmes about the Second World War shows no signs of dimming, and the challenge is to present the subject in an engaging way. A House Through Time: Two Cities at War does this brilliantly.”
Anita Singh, The Telegraph

“As Prof Olusoga works his way with rhythmic emphasis through the script. Breaking every sentence into chunks of three or four words, he makes each phrase sound emphatic and final, until it’s impossible to tell which bits really matter.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“It’s deliberately unrelatable material presented in doggedly artificial, stupid hairdo-heavy style. As a contemporary comedy it shouldn’t work, but – by God – it really does. The brilliance is partly the result of a script thick with quirky jokes, but mainly down to a cast who are simply a joy to behold.”
Rachel Aroesti, The Guardian

“The joke has worn a bit thin in Everyone Else Burns. Still, much of the script is deftly written, with a high gag count and Simon Bird deploying his Will-from-the-Inbetweeners persona again. Kadiff Kirwan and Arsher Ali are amusing as rival church elders vying for supremacy. And comedy salvation truly arrives in the shape of Sian as Maude, a forceful new cult member who sets her sights on David. Clifford is an actress who lifts everything she’s in, and she’s wickedly funny here.”
Anita Singh, The Telegraph

“Absolutely Fabulous: Inside Out is an indulgent treat for fans, bulging out of its Lacroix sample sizes with gossip, memories, outtakes and a warm, if too brief, cast reunion. If, like many of the talking heads here, you believe it to be one of the greatest British sitcoms of all time – and it is, obviously, particularly the first three series – then this is a fantastic and revelatory deep dive into who and what made it so special.”
Rebecca Nicholson, The Guardian

“It was a gloriously uplifting couple of hours – and I don’t even speak as an Ab Fab superfan. I know there was a camera running and they were essentially performing, but their laughter felt authentic and unscripted.”
Carol Midgley, The Times

“Jilly Cooper’s 1988 bestseller has not been Disneyfied. The streaming service has kept the sex, excess, the fabulous awfulness of the people and at least as much of Cooper’s always under-acknowledged talent for observation, parsing of social mores and her emotional intelligence as any adaptation ever manages – and a lot more than some. Above all, it keeps the rambunctious joy of the thing. Even the naked tennis scene works. And if you can do that, you can do anything.”
Lucy Mangan, The Guardian

“There’s a tonal tug-of-war going on in Rivals. Jilly Cooper and her fans know that this is supercharged Carry On. But the very British campery tugs hard on the leash held by the giant US corporation who possibly paid for something more sophisticated. The two never quite agree with each other, leaving the overall finish uneven. If only the Disney bosses had been brave enough to open the stable door, Rivals might have been able to run to the trashy paddock wherein it clearly longs to frolick.”
Julia Raeside, The i