Dope Girls; David Frost Vs

“Dope Girls takes place in a busy period, historically, and crams in clandestine same-sex affairs, the 1918 flu pandemic outbreak, spiritualism and empire, among many other ideas. All of this creates a hectic, sometimes fussy scramble. But Dope Girls is in no way a bad series. Its ambition is entertaining, and it is hard to get bored, especially when the crime really gets going. If it is skewed towards a younger audience, then it certainly doesn’t skimp on the brutality or the gore: limbs are severed, tongues are removed and eaten, and you wouldn’t want to guess where a hairpin ends up. It is fun, gory and lively, then, if a little too in love with its own reflection.”
Rebecca Nicholson, The Guardian

“A drama like this should, by rights, be slightly beyond the pale. It owes it to these outré, pioneering figures to go too far. It should be filthy, horrifying, transgressive and unapologetically jubilant about those things. Possibly, this imperative slightly clashes with the demands of primetime BBC One but there’s a sense that Dope Girls slightly pulls its punches.”
Phil Harrison, The Independent

“At least it’s trying something different. This era is usually represented on screen with young men going to war and their women waiting to welcome them home, all clipped accents and quiet anguish. Dope Girls has the nerve to say there are more interesting female stories to tell.”
Anita Singh, The Telegraph

“The six-part series isn’t always wholly successful, but when it is, as in its completely spellbinding second episode, it is mighty documentary-making, both cerebral and emotional. To be reminded of Frost’s brilliance as an interviewer (and as the maker of television) is no bad thing, and the copious clips from The David Frost Show et al are wondrous enough to scarcely need a documentary around them at all.”
Chris Bennion, The Telegraph

“What with Frost/Nixon, the Frost Tapes podcast and now this admiring new series, it feels as if the nasal inquisitor has been fully reclaimed from the TV-am/Roland Rat years.”
James Jackson, The Times