Inside Man; Stuck; Industry

“Inside Man is typical Moffat fare. Rollickingly confident, meaty, funny, clever (if not quite as clever, on a line by line basis, as it appears). Wells – cast here after her tremendous turn in Moffat’s last project, the glorious Dracula, and hopefully now a permanent member of his rep company – is brilliant as Janice. The ineffable oddity and unremitting moral authority she brings to the trapped woman gives the whole thing an anything-could-happen air that shifts you anxiously to the edge of your seat, even though nothing truly terrible has occurred. Tennant is in non-frantic, non-spitty mode – which is a relief. Tucci sells his slightly smug, slightly portentous section of the script well, and some fine comic relief is provided in the form of his sidekick”
Lucy Mangan, The Guardian 

“I’m quite conflicted about this show, because I swung from thinking it was highly entertaining to thinking it was very irritating, often in the same scene. It is unserious, because the story is knowingly ridiculous; yet it fancies itself as doing something very clever”
Anita Singh, The Telegraph 

“This arch meditation on ordinary human beings’ capacity to kill is audacious, clever and at times frustrating because things are often too daft even for knockabout noir. However, it’s worth it if only for the beautifully contained performance of Stanley Tucci as the charismatic “death row detective” Jefferson Grieff…The double act between Grieff and the serial killer/cannibal Dillon Kempton (Atkins Estimond) is a macabre but sometimes unsettling high point.”
Carol Midgley, The Times 

“As things get wronger and wronger, the tone remains jaunty. Moffatt’s work, including 2020’s Dracula, always has the timbre of young adult fiction, just bouncy enough to sand off the rough edges (and the rough edges here include subjects like sexual assault, paedophilia and suicide). Even within that gloom, Inside Man remains impeccably watchable. But Moffatt is, fundamentally, a purveyor of mediocre fare, and Inside Man is no exception. Where both Happy Valley and Fargo depicted a situation spiralling out of control with horrifying sympathy, Inside Man’s central scenario is unsatisfyingly coinfected.”
Nick Hilton, The Independent 

“The show is not in Black Books’ league. If you laugh more than once an episode, you’re doing well, although to be fair the episodes are only 15 minutes long. But perhaps we’re not supposed to be laughing, just smiling every now and again in recognition…Nothing happens, which I suppose is the essence of all sitcoms, but even in 15 minutes you wish something would. The only thing in its favour is the chemistry between Moran and Robinson is terrific. They’re so convincing as a couple that I did a quick Google check to see if they’re a couple in real life (they’re not). Moran could have wrung bigger laughs out of a bickering couple whose relationship is falling apart, but he’s done the more challenging thing of creating two characters who love each other. They have little routines and in-jokes. They feel real. That is the only thing that may keep you watching; that, and the occasional flight of fancy from Moran that reminds you of better shows”
Anita Singh, The Telegraph 

”Stuck also has the weary realism of Moran’s standup rather than bookseller Bernard’s enraged eccentricity or Ian’s growing fear of Lisa’s borderline violent family. Such realism of course doesn’t mean it’s not piercingly acute and very, very funny – as anyone who has watched him “ramble” on stage knows. Naturalistic dialogue is Moran’s forte and Dan and Carla’s rolling conversations unerringly capture the essence of their – of every – long-term relationship. Loving, casual, practical, daft by turns, dipping in and out of rudeness, taking refuge in and telling truths via jokes (“Yeah,” says Dan in answer to the dragon question, “Was tricky putting out the bins.”) – all of human life is here.”
Lucy Mangan, The Guardian 

“Industry is the same show it was the first time around, with the same pleasures and pitfalls. The dialogue is so laden with financial jargon it occasionally becomes unparsable. The bass of the synthy soundtrack threatens to crack the office’s glass walls. ”
Amanda Whiting, The Independent 

“Industry is a blast: highly addictive, wicked fun and, in light of renewed focus on bankers and what they’re worth, topical too. There is copious drug use, lashings of sex and enough filthy language to give Malcolm Tucker a script credit. It’s either bold, crazy or a delicious admin error that it has found a home on BBC One.”
Benji Wilson, The Telegraph