Ghosts US; The Ghost of Richard Harris; Why Ships Sink; Wednesday

“Ghosts US is a decent showcase for its cast and it can’t kill the charm of the original, but what was delightful in the original show is now just pleasant and what was unique is generic. This is what snobby British viewers assume all US comedy remakes will be: the original with the kooky rough edges – the best bits – sanded off.”
Jack Seale, The Guardian

“What is lacking is the effortless, sparkling chemistry that exists between the Horrible Histories cast members who created the original. You can’t ‘remake’ that. So while it’s perfectly OK, watching it is like drinking Aldi cava having tasted champagne.”
Carol Midgley, The Times

“It’s an appealing set-up, but after the first episode things go a bit flat. This didn’t happen in the British version, where the cast and creative team bounced off one another thanks to their existing relationship on the kids’ comedy series Horrible Histories. There’s also the small matter of why anyone over here would watch it, when they’ve already seen the original, but I suppose BBC Three has to fill its schedules somehow.”
Anita Singh, The Telegraph

“Richard Harris has been dead for 20 years but never has a person felt so alive, so dazzlingly present at his own eulogy, as he was in The Ghost of Richard Harris. This was a near two-hour love letter to Harris from his three sons, but it was as if Harris himself was driving the action, his unmistakable voice narrating, still the most potent energy in the room.”
Carol Midgley, The Times

“Documentaries about terrible events can feel gratuitous. Why is this being shown, you ask yourself, other than an arbitrary anniversary that has popped up in a TV executive’s calendar? But this was an example of exactly how these things should be done.”
Anita Singh, The Telegraph

“With a script that doesn’t take itself too seriously, a knowing wink at the audience, some genuinely scary bits and a committed and very funny central performance from Jenna Ortega that more than holds its own, this is a treat.”
Rachel Sigee, The i

“Despite its credentials (Tim Burton directs the first four episodes) the show is rather lacking in quality. From writing that sounds like it’s been reverse engineered through Google Translate to a deeply confusing central mystery, the world that series creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar have built is gossamer thin. Of Netflix’s supernatural teen dramas, it more closely resembles The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina than Stranger Things, though it lacks the production standards of either.”
Nick Hilton, The Indepenent