Fubar; The Great British Sewing Bee; American Born Chinese

“Fubar is as high concept as Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot, Mr & Mrs Smith or Meghan and Harry’s Netflix series. Like those, it involves an unlikely pair who have to battle some pretty ripe MacGuffin while working out their issues. Yet again, Schwarzenegger shows the viewer that he is chiefly a comedian.”
Stuart Jeffries, The Guardian

“Fubar falls into the category of ‘not great, but a great deal of fun’: lots of self-deprecating jokes about being older and out-of-touch but the old guy has still got the moves. Schwarzenegger looks terrific for 75, and is the perfect choice for this. He isn’t, shall we say, the most subtle of comedy performers. But he’s having a whale of a time and, if you’re a fan of action comedies, so will you.”
Anita Singh, The Telegraph

“Schwarzenegger was Hollywood’s first and best action hero. As a quippy beefcake, nobody could hold a flame-thrower to him in the 80s and 90s. Thankfully, that lunkish pizazz endures and is the saving grace in an otherwise formulaic and forgettable comeback.”
Ed Power, The i

“A lovely, good-natured programme, which is sometimes exactly what is required. It is made by the same production company as The Great British Bake Off, but where that show has become a bit too full of itself, Sewing Bee remains a pure delight.”
Anita Singh, The Telegraph

“For all the fun, Esme and Patrick are the most stringent judges of any skills competition on TV. Contestants on Interior Design Masters and Bake Off might get away with slip-ups, especially in early rounds, but there’s no leniency on Sewing Bee. Every stray thread, every crooked seam is noticed and criticised.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“While there is plenty to like about the show, including great chemistry between Wang and Liu, and some fantastically acrobatic fight scenes, it is stark how much less compelling the actual war is than the high school one. It is no chore to sit through the eight 30-minute episodes, which zip along with energy and pizzazz. But what is most exciting is considering all the fantastic films, shows and performances that Liu and Wang are sure to have ahead of them.”
Leila Latif, The Guardian

“Sometimes, the wholesome teen angle can hold the series back – its representations of racism and emotional upheaval feel too Disney-fied, sterilised, brushed under the carpet rather than fully explored. It’s a disappointing omission, given the fact most of the series’ viewers will be young Gen Zers – hardly a generation known to shy away from facing ‘problematic’ politics head on. If the serious parts of the series had received a more adult spin, this would be a brilliant show; instead, it’s merely a good one.”
Poppie Platt, The Telegraph

“It is funny, occasionally laugh-out-loud so, and this is largely because of Seth Rogen’s manic, slightly deranged energy, although Rose Byrne has good timing as his effective straight man, flipping between being vanilla mom and someone who gets high on ketamine. It’s well written, well paced, well acted and doesn’t even fall into the trap of putting her in an unhappy marriage.”
Carol Midgley, The Times

“I feared that Maryland, a distinctive, quietly profound miniseries, would lapse into sentimentality in its finale, and it did. But not so much that it overpowered the bigger message about fulfilment, stagnant relationships, loss of self and the right to decide one’s life and death.”
Carol Midgley, The Times