Inside the Factory; Accused: The Fake Grooming Scandal; Severance

“Whoever dons the hair net for this show would find it hard to fail an almost unbreakable format. Paddy McGuinness was brought in to deliver Gregg Wallace’s cheery bonhomie and he did not fail. The format also continues to have those quieter educational inserts that were especially welcome given how relentlessly high-octane McGuinness can be.”
Ben Dowell, The Times

“His interest was as genuine as his sense of nostalgia, from the moment he arrived at the wheel of an HGV. Whether he’ll be able to muster the same sense of enthusiasm for toilet roll production lines or tin can foundries remains to be seen. However he copes, it can’t be as irritating as the disgraced Gregg Wallace’s hyperactive glee over every statistic and gadget.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“There weren’t many surprises in a well-meaning, if ultimately dull episode that ticked along like clockwork. McGuinness had clearly been instructed to ‘be himself’, and was he ever, as he visited Warburtons bread plant in his hometown of Bolton. Alas, not even this turbo-powered cheeky chap could turn a big boring bread factory into a dough-themed Willy Wonka.”
Ed Power, The i

“Naturally, even before Accused: The Fake Grooming Scandal aired, there were people on Twitter/X accusing C4 of focusing on this rare and terrible case of a young woman who fabricated abuse claims rather than the victims of the many very real crimes in Rochdale, Oldham and elsewhere. You can understand the thinking, but the truth is this three-part documentary was executed with professionalism and skill, and demonstrated the virtues of closely examining the whole story, while also showing the real danger of online vigilantism.”
Ben Dowell, The Times

“What Severance does brilliantly once again is submerge us in Lumon Industries’ claustrophobic world within a world, painted in endless shades of blue, that feels both eerily familiar yet oddly other-worldly. But the narrative, which strains credulity as the depth of Lumon’s menace is revealed, doesn’t exert the same grip. Where season one gave us a Kafkaesque officescape centred around Mark S (Adam Scott, perfect as a grieving everyman), season two opens the action out and turns into a much more conventional sci-fi thriller.”
Keith Watson, The Telegraph