Critics: MasterChef: The Professionals

“Happily, Gregg-gate didn’t become a grubby distraction from a thrilling denouement. It was tense. It was slickly put together. It was dizzyingly high quality. Marcus Wareing said this was the best final he’d ever experienced and we believed him. This wasn’t hyperbole, it was appreciation of Michelin standard skill.”
Michael Hogan, The Telegraph

“On one hand, the two-parter is a fine example of the type of television that Martin has got so good at since he first appeared on our screens 13 years ago. It’s blokey but not too blokey; it’s about men and vehicles and war, but all done in an understated way; it’s educational but not elitist. Martin is ideal for this, a mix of capable, interested and humble. There is no one else like him on TV – there simply isn’t anything irritating about him. In the second episode, however, you slowly realise you are watching Martin star in a propaganda film. If we really are entering a new Cold War, Channel 4 can’t be accused of not doing its bit.”
Chris Bennion, The Telegraph

“The last episode of this opening season, setting up the storylines for the show’s return, was crammed with spectacular moments to send the adrenaline surging. High-octane action and wry humour isn’t all this Jackal delivers. The cast are outstanding, their characters clearly defined. And it all looks sensational.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“Celebrity Escape to the Country is is an hour-long programme with, at a guess, around seven minutes of workable material. If you look carefully at the title sequence there is a dog that looks savagely forlorn. This dog, I suspect, is the scriptwriter, who has been through the wringer to get this thing on screen and is well aware that watching Linford Christie look around swanky houses is interesting only up to a point. That point being about seven minutes. After that, it was all filler.”
Benji Wilson, The Telegraph

“Never Too Late relies too heavily on old war stories about Elton’s cocaine blizzard years in the 1970s. Anyone with half an interest in the singer is surely already familiar with this period, which was also adequately covered in the 2019 biopic Rocketman. Do we really need to go there again? Elton John is one of the greats of his generation, and his story is a gripping blend of triumph and tragedy. But it’s been told many times already, and this slick, unmemorable documentary has nothing new to say.”
Ed Power, The i