Disability and Abortion: The Hardest Choice; Marriage; Ben Stokes: Phoenix from the Ashes

“It was a moment of sheer heartbreak. And there were many more in this programme – a provocative yet also kind and empathic exploration of the tensions between a woman’s right to choose and our attitudes towards the disabled…This was a nuanced film that brought us on a journey with Madeley and Reuter without ever demanding we take sides. If there was a message, it went beyond the question of abortion.”
Ed Power, The i

“Madeley and Reuter make engaged, compassionate hosts, and it is a testament to their intentions that they contemplate a choice that, rightly or wrongly, feels to them like a judgment on their own lives. To her credit, Madeley in particular gamely enters into – often highly difficult – discussions with experts who present her with new information and nuance.”
Frances Ryan, The Guardian 

“As the show approached its conclusion, Madeley found her ideas had changed, while Reuter was keen to destigmatise disability more broadly. Accommodating a variety of perspectives, viewing aspects of the debate from various angles, Disability and Abortion illustrated the issue’s complexity rather than lapsing into easy moral binaries.”
Emily Watkins, The i

“By showing us two middle-aged people doing the most mundane things — loading the dishwasher, watering the plants, brushing their teeth — writer and director Stefan Golaszewski forced us to look for the story in the tiniest details. Like clues in a murder mystery, the keys that unlocked the characters were well hidden … and thrilling to find…But nothing about Marriage was standard drama. Its chief flaw was the constant foul language. Though BBC types won’t believe it, many people wouldn’t dream of talking that way at home. And the mumbling, meant to convey how Ian in particular disliked talking about his feelings, was sometimes frustrating. If you can bear that, though, try Marriage again.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail 

“Whatever its detractors say I will repeat this: in my view Stefan Golaszewski’s drama about a couple living a humdrum, downbeat life but who are bonded in love over the tragedy of losing a baby soon after birth has been a quiet, modest masterpiece. No plot twists, no big reveals, just an exquisitely observed paean to ordinary, painful human existence in all its agonies and indignities. Nicola Walker and Sean Bean were magnificent, but if anything Bean’s performance was the slightly better in the finale, especially when he was sitting on a bed with his daughter Jess (Chantelle Alle), watching her silently read the letter that he wrote to her when they first adopted her. What Marriage did was make this drudgery almost a thing of beauty, the familiar rhythm to the song of their lives which, despite Ian’s insecurities and Emma being humiliated by her boss, was underpinned with love, tragedy and, somehow, a sort of happiness. As an unyielding stare at the fascinating mundanity of human existence, it was outstanding.” 
Carol Midgley, The Times

“The story is intercut with a single long interview conducted with Mendes just weeks after he first asked for help, and as such it is strange, powerful footage – eyes glazed, answers monosyllabic – while also being fairly useless qua meaningful answers. Indeed, Mendes’s role in the whole thing is a little strange all round, other than giving him a chance to meet one of his heroes (and, at the end, get to face his bowling).” 
Benji Wilson, The Telegraph

“There was no shortage of plot twists in the second part of Investigating Diana: Death In Paris , as any pretence of sober reportage was abandoned. The film-makers embraced the conspiracy theorists in a confused but entertaining tangle of contradictions.” 
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail