Small Town, Big Story; Bergerac

“How much you enjoy Small Town, Big Story will depend on how you feel first about whimsy and second about genre mashups. If your appetite for both is large, then Chris O’Dowd’s creation (he wrote and directed) has plenty to make you happy. If not, you might find the whole thing a little too underpowered to keep you going.”
Lucy Mangan, The Guardian

“Tonally it flips from the whimsical, to gentle humour, to dark humour. I prefer the dark. It’s perfectly jolly to watch and there are some decent turns and funny lines. But it does meander, and nothing is making me crave the second series for which it is clearly set up.”
Carol Midgley, The Times

“O’Dowd, who co-directed and stars as a Hollywood screenwriter, was inspired by his experience of bringing a big-time television production to his home town of Boyle, Co Roscommon, for his Sky comedy, Moone Boy. But he fails to replicate Moone Boy’s deftness. If anything, the portrayal of small-town Ireland veers worryingly close at times to a Martin McDonagh-style unhinged Blarney-fest. The saving grace is the chemistry between Christina Hendricks (wisely avoiding an Irish accent) and Paddy Considine as old flames reunited. Considine is especially impressive, bringing an aching pathos to a clichéd part of a middle-aged man whose life is falling around him.”
Ed Power, The Telegraph

“Yes, the 1980s series has been reborn, rebooted, reimagined, or whatever they’re calling it. Obviously, this is a good marketing ploy, because you will spot the name, be hit by a wave of nostalgia, and tune in. And what you will find is a competent, well-acted series with a good leading man. But it’s not Bergerac. What they’ve done here is taken the name, the location and the car, and attached them to another detective drama. And the theme tune? It has survived, but only just, in such a wishy-washy form that they shouldn’t really have bothered.”
Anita Singh, The Telegraph

“This six-part remake is a very different production from the one that enthralled audiences in the Eighties. When writer Robert Banks Stewart first conceived the character, Bergerac was a maverick with a drinking problem in his past, trying to stay on the rails. But in the new version, he’s a train wreck, on indefinite leave from his job following the death of his wife.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail