Inseparable Sisters; Avatar: The Last Airbender; Constellation

“Inseparable Sisters, by film-maker Nick Hartley, is an intimate, uplifting documentary and the culmination of BBC Wales Today anchor Lucy Owen following Marieme and Ndeye’s progress for several years. What emerges is a utopian picture of a loving, fully functioning – and, crucial this, fully funded – welfare state. In a country in which the rights of disabled people have been violated by the Tory government to such a horrifying degree that cash-starved councils were seriously considering ‘warehousing’ disabled people in care homes, this is deeply moving to see.”
Chitra Ramaswamy, The Guardian

“There is much cruelty and horror in the world right now but, without wanting to sound too Pollyanna about it, Inseparable Sisters felt like a small, restitutive shot of kindness. The love and care bestowed on the conjoined twins Marieme and Ndeye Ndiaye by their father, their teachers, their doctors and their very sweet classmates in Cardiff was a misery antidote. It showed ordinary people being, well, lovely.”
Carol Midgley, The Times

“The challenge when making a documentary about conjoined twins is acknowledging the reality of the life-shortening condition without resorting to fake positivity – or, worse yet, piling on the misery. The refreshingly humane and optimistic Inseparable Sisters walked the tightrope to perfection. It portrayed seven-year-old Marieme and Ndeye Ndiaye not as victims or charity cases to be gawped at – but young people bursting with life and personality. The effect was ultimately hugely uplifting – yet you never felt you were being manipulated or that someone off-screen was cynically troweling on the saccharine.”
Ed Power, The Telegraph

“The charm of this documentary was seeing not only the sweetness of Marieme and Ndeye’s giggly personalities, and Ibrahima’s inexhaustible optimism, but also the enthusiasm of everyone who chipped in to help.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“The landscapes sparkle, there is a giant six-legged flying bison that carries everyone spectacularly from place to place through the clouds and the young cast are up to the task. The Airbender franchise has confidently revived itself; this won’t be the last we see of it.”
Jack Seale, The Guardian

“It’s solid entertainment: fast-moving, action-packed, with decent fight scenes and some appealing performances, all done on a generous Netflix budget.”
Anita Singh, The Telegraph

“The acting is often cheesy, and you are never in any doubt but that you are watching TV for children. But the this take is earnest and visually dazzling – the special effects add an extra whizz-bang thump to action, and fans who were concerned when the showrunners of the cartoon departed this production early can relax.”
Ed Power, The i

“Constellation is a predictably elegant and classy exploration of what might happen when an astronaut goes into space and doesn’t come back the same. It is part space horror, part psychological thriller, and at times, it looks stunning. However, a word of caution. It is uneven and almost stubbornly slow, and it takes all three of the episodes debuting this week to even begin to start wrangling its plot into shape.”
Rebecca Nicholson, The Guardian

“This is an interestingly written but abstruse slog of a drama that questions the psychological impact of space travel on astronauts and for which you must get your head around quantum physics and the idea that one thing can exist in two places at the same time. I’m not a particular fan of space drama, but it’s telling that the bits on the ISS are far, far more compelling than the main business on Earth, which becomes turgid.”
Carol Midgley, The Times

“Apple throws so much cash at its TV projects it’s easy to become blasé about the lavish production values. Yet Constellation truly is stunning to behold: Noomi Rapace’s spacewalk, for instance, features better special effects than any Marvel movie in the last 10 years. Alas, the Hollywood budget is an uneasy fit with a plot that plays out like Black Mirror without the satire.”
Ed Power, The Telegraph

“Constellation is not easy to watch. Along with a pervasive sense of dread – even during scenes of small children playing hide and seek, it’s sinister and off-key – there’s a fair bit of information to juggle as the show follows multiple plot strands while simultaneously considering the mysteries of the human mind. If this were a film, it would be in dire need of simplification. But with eight episodes to explore all the complexities, there’s plenty of time for the show’s many stories to unfurl.”
Marianne Levy, The i