Forensics: The Real CSI; The Great Pottery Throw Down; How to With John Wilson

“What makes this programme so gripping is the depth of detail. The innumerable ways that evidence can be amassed, and the damning facts that can be deduced from its analysis, keep us glued to the screen. There’s no need for the action sequences, unconvincing romances and, worst of all, the political storylines about far-right activists and immigrants that frequently mar Silent Witness.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail 

“The forensics were meticulously detailed, right down to what the life cycle of maggots and flies tells us about how long someone has been dead. It reminded us what a painstaking, crucial and sometimes sickening job forensic experts and pathologists do.”
Carol Midgley, The Times

“As with the previous three series of Forensics: The Real CSI, this was coolly (almost forensically, you could say) narrated by Siobhan Finneran – and the Open University co-production was generally a model in un-exploitative true-crime filmmaking. The professionals also came across as both matter-of-fact and impressively dedicated.”
Gerard Gilbert, The i

“There was a 24 Hours in Police Custody part of the programme that was riveting, as detectives closed in on what had happened to the corpse and who had done it. The actual forensics part, however, was less engaging. I suspect this is because forensics is, by definition, painstaking and slow.”
Benji Wilson, The Telegraph

“As always with this show it’s the fact that the potters are baring their souls, making themselves vulnerable and creating beauty out of a bag of mud, that makes it so much more than a reality TV show.”
Carol Midgley, The Times

“The fact that all three of them managed to not merely make a passable ceramic chandelier but make one that, in its decoration, relayed chapters of their life stories, was gob-smacking. I’m not sure what Britain is supposed to be good at these days but we sure can pot (and I’d like to see AI make a clay chandelier).”
Benji Wilson, The Telegraph

“As an interviewer, Wilson makes Louis Theroux look like Terry Wogan; as a cinematographer, he has the sideways eye of arthouse legends like Patrick Keiller and James Benning, but with more of a slapstick vibe. Whether his show is the most profound on TV is arguable; that it is one of the funniest is undeniable.”
Jack Seale, The Guardian