Lost Boys & Fairies; Football Cops

“It tells a sad, beautiful story about adoption and, crucially, about adopters, with an admirable devotion to the love and the pain involved in each aspect of the process. It has a huge heart and a clear eye on melodrama: no episode goes without a musical number. It is a lot of things, all at once, and mostly, it holds it all together with panache.”
Rebecca Nicholson, The Guardian

“Don’t let the whimsical title of the series fool you: this is meaty, experimental and deeply moving television.”
Alim Kheraj, The i

“What I liked about this story is that it surprises you. There are laughs where you don’t really expect them and sadness when you didn’t see it coming. This is a drama which is tender, uplifting and candid without being slushy.”
Carol Midgley, The Times

“There are precious few dramas about the adoption process, which is why Lost Boys & Fairies feels so welcome. That the couple hoping to adopt are both male adds an extra layer of fascination and jeopardy. But the true rarity value, for a script on the BBC’s mainstream channel, is that this is also a knotty bilingual exploration of Welsh identity. It’s a wonderful fillip to encounter reams of modern Welsh dialogue so very far from S4C.”
Jasper Rees, The Telegraph

“There’s such a winning charisma at play in Lost Boys and Fairies – and such a fine central performance – that it’s tempting to forgive those moments when the visual experimentation of the show is undermined by its narrative triteness. Welsh writer Daf James has crafted a show that is a gut punch – albeit a deliberate, rather than instinctive one – and one that deserves to be seen, and reflected on, by primetime audiences.”
Nick Hilton, The Independent

“The idea that drag artiste Gabriel and his accountant partner Andy should be encouraged to adopt a child fills me with genuine anger. It is truly offensive. That has nothing at all to do with the fact they’re gay men. Gender and sexuality are irrelevant in adoption now, and I’m delighted that it’s so. But this thirtysomething couple in the three-part drama Lost Boys And Fairies radiate naked bigotry. It’s a prejudice so sinister and deep-rooted that I watched in disbelief — waiting for some twist to show me that I’d misunderstood. The twist never came.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“One thing clear from Football Cops is that officers who police matches are certainly fond of their acronyms and initialisms. There were DFOs (dedicated football officers), OFOs (operational football officers), ASBs (people showing antisocial behaviour), EGCs (evidence-gathering cameras). Line of Duty take note. It was also a reminder of how difficult this job is and how little a minority of fans seem to fear the police.”
Carol Midgley, The Times

“There are no bespoke cops for cricket or rugby because its followers don’t go in for tribal antagonism and pre-arranged punch-ups. That football alone attracts puerile delinquents is hardly news, and yet this series is a genuine eye-opener.”
Jasper Rees, The Telegraph