Expats; Miners’ Strike 1984; Masters of the Air

“Expats, is the latest in a long line of prestige television dramas in which Nicole Kidman wafts about the place as an ethereal, privileged woman haunted by a secret sorrow that all the exquisite soft furnishings and beach views in the world cannot ameliorate. The feeling that she is running on the fumes of her talent is hard to avoid. It looks great and there are some fine performances but we have seen it all before.”
Lucy Mangan, The Guardian

“From Nine Perfect Strangers and The Undoing back to Big Little Lies, she’s always a troubled, affluent woman of early middle age. As such, she turns out performances that are always very strong, but lacking in any dimension via which they address the elephant in the room, which is why the character being played by Nicole Kidman looks like Nicole Kidman.”
Hugo Rifkind, The Times

“The weak link is Kidman. She looks and behaves like an alien. Her delivery is weird. Scenes in which she tries to convey grief or fear or hysteria are like an AI programme glitchily simulating human emotion. I have no idea what she’s done to her face, but it’s so distractingly odd that she’s simply the wrong casting these days to play an ordinary mortal. Luckily, the drama is so rich that there is much else to get your teeth into.”
Anita Singh, The Telegraph

“This is a well-researched documentary, featuring miners who were in news footage from the time. Both sides are given equal weight.”
Anita Singh, The Telegraph

“The series tells the story by formatting each episode as a standalone narrative zoomed in on a place or a moment and relayed by people who were directly involved, many of whom have not spoken before. It does a fine job of conveying that for the strikers, their whole lives and identities were at stake.”
Jack Seale, The Guardian

“This opening episode in a three-part documentary focused on the divided workers and their families at the Derbyshire pit town of Shirebrook — with no contribution from former police or politicians. We heard from wives and children who shrieked abuse at the strikebreakers, with no mention of Arthur Scargill’s flying pickets, militants brought in from miles away to bolster the battle lines.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“The flight sequences here, with their vistas of flack and cloud, will leave you breathless. Sometimes, it is true, that they are all wearing helmets and masks may leave you struggling to follow precisely who is who, but before long I promise you won’t care. The Germans, meanwhile, are as faceless as Cylons, but no less terrifying. Messerschmitts stream past with guns blazing, a fuselage splits and burns. It’s exhausting, it’s brilliant and I love it. Wow.”
Hugo Rifkind, The Times

“I wanted to like Masters of the Air so much. And there is a lot to like – the acting is top notch, the world-building immersive and the storytelling (what little there is of it) is succinct. But it’s too old-fashioned to compete with today’s prestige TV. What’s more, it’s not even trying to.”
Emily Baker, The i