Ridley; The Capture; Suspect; Animal Airlift: Escaping the Taliban

“All of this is established in an opening episode that moves along at a mad clip and stays just the right side of schlockiness, although it’s often the way with ITV popcorn thrillers that they lose the plot by episode three so we shall see what happens.”
Anita Singh, The Telegraph

“What possessed Aidan to take the starring role, as a psychotherapist suspected of murdering the ex-patient who accused him of sexual assault, is anyone’s guess. Perhaps he couldn’t resist the chance to show off his thick black beard, the bushiest face-fuzz since Brian Blessed in Flash Gordon. The Suspect opened with a wildly improbable action sequence that got sillier by the minute…The lurch from playful flirtation to graphic corpse was not just jarring, it was thoroughly tasteless.” 
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“Turner – who finally had an opportunity to speak in his native Dublin accent – carried it with sheer star wattage. Post-Poldark, there was an expectation that he would break into cinema. He certainly brought a movie star aura to Joe – and that glamour illuminated what might otherwise have been an entirely average murder romp. Light at the end of the tunnel for Turner fans.”
Ed Power, The i

“The dialogue is far too flimsy to effectively gloss over anything; plot holes fall out the characters’ mouths with a clang.Despite all this, Turner is rather good here. “Rakish but enigmatic doctor” falls comfortably within the Poldark star’s capabilities, and his easygoing charm is crucial in making you think that this guy couldn’t possibly be a killer, even when all evidence points to the contrary. Good, too, are some of the supporting cast, most notably Shaun Parkes and Anjli Mohandra as the detective duo on the hunt for the killer. There’s something fun and propulsive about the story’s little twists and turns, the preposterous artifice of it all; even if you can feel the wheels starting to come off early, the turbulence makes the journey all the more giddily enjoyable.”
Louis Chilton, The Independent

”At times, it seems to take itself a bit too seriously – there are few lighter moments, no laughs or sarcasm between friends, family or co-workers, nothing to relieve the sombreness – but, overall (especially, as I’ve said, if we ignore the club singing scenes), it works. And there are some great scenes, particularly between Dunbar and Elizabeth Berrington as his old friend and colleague Jean, and some lovely grace notes along the way.” Lucy Mangan, The Guardian

”Well, I wasn’t expecting that. No, I don’t mean the plot twist regarding the dead child in Ridley, though it was a decent rug-puller, I’ll give them that. I refer, obviously, to Adrian Dunbar bursting into song not once but twice, and at some length. Who knew Superintendent Ted Hastings had such a fine set of lungs on him? But it also felt jarring, a morose TV copper suddenly crooning away in a jazz club. Imagine if Inspector Morse suddenly started disco dancing or Vera did a few kick-turns on a skateboard. The cast was strong though, especially the women, including Elizabeth Berrington and Bronagh Waugh, who played a DI called Carol, which must be the first time a lead character has been called Carol for years (not that I’m counting). But the dialogue was often a platter of cop clichés.”
Carol Midgley The Times

”Dunbar, beloved as the irascible Supt Ted Hastings in Line Of Duty, has a decent voice, tuneful and not too light. There’s more to him than ‘Jesus-Mary-and-the-wee-donkey-sucking-diesel’ catchphrases. Ridley is a solid if unimaginative attempt to build a crime show around him — not a roller-coaster of betrayals and police corruption, but a brooding drama in the tradition of Vera or Shetland…There’s sometimes a flavour of crime-by-numbers about it all, with stereotyped characters such as the explosive senior officer (Terence Maynard) or the jaded pathologist (Georgie Glen). But the rural Yorkshire atmosphere is powerful, with dank farms and benighted caravan sites — a sort of James Herriot-noir.
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“But cliché must be deployed sparingly, and, unfortunately, the team behind Ridley – to not coin a phrase – use every trick in the book. The most unusual thing about the show is, in fact, its format: four feature-length and standalone mysteries. No cliffhangers, just a sad detective resolving murders before the credits roll. “You can’t solve them all, Ridley,” Dixon informs him naively.”
Nick Hilton The Independent 

“Dunbar is an entirely safe pair of hands and couldn’t be more perfect as the lead – grizzled, principled, a little unorthodox and unable to let things go. The requisite character quirks come in the form of being part-owner of a live music bar and having a habit of hopping on stage to perform Richard Hawley songs (credit to Dunbar – he delivers). His central partnership with no-nonsense DI Farnham is full of warmth and mutual respect and their first case is exactly as complicated as it needs to be, avoiding straying into convolutions too wild while delivering on a satisfying twist.” Rachael Sigee, The i 

“Despite the manifold sillinesses, the opening scene in James Kent’s directed episode of Ben Chanan’s drama is done effectively. A Chinese dissident living in a London flat examines the security cameras anxiously. The glass front doors open and close without apparently admitting anybody. The lift doors do the same. Clearly someone is tampering with the camera feed to this doomed plot device. It’s a genuinely chilling sequence, and I hope there’s more of the like to come.”. 
Lucy Mangan, The Guardian

“The twist at the end was ingenious, at the level of a Line of Duty about-turn back when LoD could still shock. Apart from one hoary line from Patrick (“You know exactly who we need to call, and it ain’t Ghostbusters”), Ben Chanan’s dialogue was quick on its feet and clever, especially when security minister Isaac Turner (an excellent Paapa Essiedu) was sparring with the head of a Chinese tech company hoping for an AI contract with the British government.”
Carol Midgley The Times

“The cartoonish aspects have been trimmed away to leave a sleek thriller. The first episode opened with a confident, filmic sequence, as an assassin walked through an apartment block, invisible to the CCTV cameras.
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“This isn’t bent coppers or murders in grotty seaside towns; this is more James Bond than Jack Frost. The pacing is excellent, and the action sequences are suspenseful and original. With Correction technology now out in the open, the filmmakers have licence to utilise the real-time altering of CCTV footage from the off. Watching an assassination unfold simultaneously in the real world and through ghostlike security footage is a genuinely novel experience. Yet there are, unfortunately, mistakes here. Essiedu is miscast as a government minister with two young children. The actor is in his early thirties (an age that would make him, by several years, the youngest minister in the current government) and his boyish face makes it hard to buy him as a career politician.”
Nick Hilton, The Independent 

”It is also brilliant and damning as a portrait of the current age of soundbite politics, when the prime minister can be accused by a reporter of intervening to bump Farthing’s evacuation up the list, and respond “Total rhubarb”; and the secretary of defence can refute an accusation by calling it “bollocks” on the radio; and Farthing can leave a threatening voicenote to a special adviser; and Twitter pile-ons and death threats greeted many of those who got involved. It is an ungainly spectacle, and the film makes it clear that many believe it was a terrible distraction from the horrors on the ground. Farthing, seemingly reflective, admits he “made some bad decisions”, and makes a point of talking about the “39 million people that were just abandoned”. To have this fascinating, awful story told carefully, thoroughly and calmly, as it is here, is very necessary and long overdue.” Rebecca Nicholson, The Guardian