The Gentlemen; The Marlow Murder Club; The Rise and Fall of Boris Johnson

“I thought the first couple of episodes were terrific. But mid-series it loses momentum when it segues into too many criminal tangents and cameos. It all becomes a bit ‘much’. A bit too shouty; a bit too ‘stylised silly’. It becomes like a toddler you want to stop banging its toy drum now, please, and turn down the volume. But the bottom line is that it is entertaining and it will make you laugh.”
Carol Midgley, The Times

“The Ritchie flourishes are irritating – especially on-screen text cutely translating the drugs speak. But if you can get past this, The Gentleman is a fun caper. Vinnie Jones is a gamekeeper on the Halstead estate who takes in injured foxes instead of culling them. Peter Serafinowicz is a Scouser in a tracksuit. Ray Winstone is a crime boss in an open prison which is so open that he can hold court in a tent like a Cockney maharajah, eating steak barbecued by his personal Japanese chef. Everyone seems to be having a whale of a time.”
Anita Singh, The Telegraph

“All is as it should be, narratively and stylistically. You can see it as a meditation on class war and the infinite corruptibility of humanity when presented with enough impossibly neat bundles of cash. Or you can see it as a lot of daft stories crammed together and spattered with blood for your entertainment. It’s a slightly underpowered Ritchie film on TV. If you like his films, you should watch it. If you don’t, there is loads of other stuff instead.”
Lucy Mangan, The Guardian

“There’s no denying The Gentlemen sets out with the right intentions. But as a work of social satire, it has little of depth to say.”
Louis Chilton, The Independent

“The setting is undiluted Home Counties, all parish church and vintage sports cars in the High Street. Like Midsomer Murders and Father Brown, this delightful slice of cleverly constructed entertainment is certain to sell well around the world.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“In a TV climate where most crime drama is hard and dark, mirroring American and Scandinavian imports, the best way for a British drama to stand out in the global marketplace is to be soft and light. Many people do want cuppa-tea TV, where they can leave on a nice-looking show while they pop off for a brew, come back in five minutes and be assured they won’t have missed much. In this guise, The Marlow Murder Club ticked every box. But if you want something that grips, look elsewhere.”
Benji Wilson, The Telegraph

“The two episodes featured an impressive cast of established British acting talent. They tried their best with the uninspiring material, but ultimately felt wasted on this clunky script and its inexplicably long episodes. Death in Paradise fans seeking that sense of sun-soaked escapism would have been left disappointed.”
Isobel Lewis, The i

“The documentary makes its way meticulously through his lies and machinations as a journalist, a politician and a man. I know we lived through them, but it’s quite something to see them strung together sequentially (and consequentially).”
Lucy Mangan, The Guardian

“The Boris Johnson story has already been well told. So what could a new, supposedly definitive documentary series add? Not a lot, as it turned out, though it threw everything at it. But all in all, it was great viewing because Johnson, simply, is good telly.”
Benji Wilson, The Telegraph