Boybands Forever; Moonflower Murders

“Boybands Forever hits every sweet spot of the modern documentary. It’s a lively tale stuffed with 90s nostalgia and tabloid culture mea culpas, which means it can tell outrageous stories and still feel a bit bad about telling them. Over three substantial episodes, it features excellent interviewees and maintains a nice, conversational pace, homing in on the details pop fans will want to know.”
Rebecca Nicholson, The Guardian

“The access this documentary has to the main players is impressive, particularly the interviews with the managers who you might imagine would rather not talk about their roles in – some would say – exploiting youngsters with little agency. Martin Fuller’s intelligent direction builds up a picture of unhealthy obsession and, behind the scenes, sometimes suffocating control. The temptation to rose-tint the past was side-stepped here in favour of a genuine curiosity about the dark side of fame.”
Julia Raeside, The i

“Produced by Louis Theroux’s company, it is made up of candid interviews with now-middle-aged stars from the Smash Hits era. It’s a really good watch.”
Anita Singh, The Telegraph

“Silly accents, vintage cars, stunning locations – Moonflower Murders is a lot of fun to watch and, by the look of it, even more fun to make. Adapted from his own novel by the acknowledged master of traditional mystery stories, Anthony Horowitz, the plot is a riddle wrapped in an enigma sealed within a conundrum.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“Based on his novel, and a follow-up to 2022’s Magpie Murders, it has all the Horowitz ingredients – clever plotting, sprightly dialogue, nice flashes of humour and an appealing lead – but doesn’t quite hit the spot. It is all nicely acted and competently made. There is nothing to dislike, it just over-eggs the pudding.”
Anita Singh, The Telegraph

“There is no shortage of intricate thrillers on TV, whether it’s the BBC’s spree of largely faithful Agatha Christie adaptations or the more tongue-in-cheek Knives Out films. But Moonflower Murders brought something new to an arguably done-to-death formula by mixing a modern murder case with a hokey period whodunit – a charming blend of new and old.”
Ed Power, The i