House of the Dragon; Doctor Who

“We might have waited almost two years for the ferocious House of the Dragon to return, but its second series wastes no time in getting down to business. Infanticide, cunnilingus, dead dragons, warmongering and, er, arguments over sheep are par the course in this pacy, guileful hour of television.”
Emily Baker, The i

“While it takes a few episodes for House of the Dragon to crescendo into the sort of grand, violent spectacle that the series (and its predecessor) does better than pretty much anything else on TV, there are enough nuggets of incident in the opening couple of hours to satisfy viewers’ bloodlust.”
Louis Chlton, The Independent

“It looks magnificent. We’re used to the high production values, but the aerial scenes and even those beautiful candlelit interiors shouldn’t make us forget how spoilt we have become. And there is more to come. There is also enough sex in the opening episodes (I’ve seen four of them) to keep the intimacy co-ordinators busy. And there are signs that it might be less viscerally bloody and cruel.”
Ben Dowell, The Times

“Aside from that, the rest of it was mood music. Beautifully shot, impeccably acted, emotionally intense mood music, but still essentially scene-setting for greater things to come. Perhaps House of the Dragon has learnt the art of restraint from Game of Thrones – always leave ’em wanting more.”
Benji Wilson, The Telegraph

“The Legend of Ruby Sunday was more of a promise than a story – a tease of (hopefully) better things to come. This is often the issue with two-parters: the first half can feel more functional than dramatic, a dramatic runway necessary for the rest of the story to soar. Here’s hoping it sticks the landing.”
Stephen Kelly, The i

“Hokey, cackling, over the top – these are the values Doctor Who stands for and it’s great to see the show go all vintage and 1970s. But you wonder if Russel T Davies isn’t contradicting previous statements to the effect that the BBC re-hired him to bring in an under-30 audience. Will younger viewers care about a Whovian hoodlum dating back to the Tom Baker era? All will be revealed when the ratings come out. Until they do, the ongoing worry for the BBC is that, in swerving from space babies to Baker-vintage monsters, Doctor Who is trapped in a vortex of its own making.”
Ed Power, The Independent

“Unfortunately, the big reveal didn’t compensate for the previous 45 minutes. Up until then, The Legend of Ruby Sunday was a classic example of Doctor Who going Doctor Huh?”
Benji Wilson, The Telegraph