Manhunt; Un Amore; Whitstable Pearl; Somerset: Wonder Of The West Country

“To British eyes, it will seem like a painfully slow account of the 12-day search for John Wilkes Booth, the man who assassinated Abraham Lincoln. There is certainly no dynamic storytelling here, just a drawn-out true-crime procedural. Booth and Menzies are solid performers (Hamish Linklater is a slighter presence as Lincoln) but the series plods through seven hour-long episodes when it could have done something thrilling with three or four.”
Anita Singh, The Telegraph

“It’s a riveting story – at least on paper. Unfortunately, Manhunt suffers from the same ailment that has bedevilled several other recent prestige dramas: it is achingly dull. There is no urgency to the script by Monica Beletsky and watching it feels like wading through a monotonous novel that Lincoln himself might have read in the mid-19th century. It is well put together and visually gorgeous but poorly attuned to our modern, fleeting attention spans.”
Ed Power, The i

“It is all quality stuff. But it takes itself very seriously and the insistent detailing makes you yearn for the leaner, keener beast buried within this lumbering one to break free. The chase is the thing, but its narrative is so broken by the time-jumps and diversions that it becomes another handful of pieces in a jigsaw puzzle rather than a driving force carrying us with it.”
Lucy Mangan, The Guardian

“Something truly enchanting is at Un Amore’s core: a sincere belief in love that lasts through the ages, and the deeply romantic notion that you may come across a person on a train who for ever changes your very being. But as much as their love endures, the compelling narrative wanes. This is a love that is only endlessly fascinating to those who are wrapped up in it.”
Leila Latif, The Guardian

“It is lush, sexy, full of yearning and hypnotically acted by Micaela Ramazzotti and Stefano Accorsi as Anna and Alessandro. The storytelling is subtle and evocative: the frequent flashbacks, the portrayal of how a happy memory can be addictive, the way young love prematurely interrupted stays alive in the heart. It is moving, but it won’t shred your heart like One Day did, and thank goodness for that.”
Carol Midgley, The Times

“There is an edge here that leans to gritty noir rather than quirky whimsy, which is fine by me. There are far too many crime dramas on TV, obviously. But, judging by the first episode, this one has character.”
Carol Midgley, The Times

“It doesn’t come much more comforting and undemanding than Somerset: Wonder Of The West Country. Not only could we gaze at some of Britain’s most beautiful scenery, but Alan Titchmarsh was doing the voiceover. It couldn’t have been any more relaxing if Channel 5 had plumped up our sofa cushions and delivered a mug of Ovaltine to every viewer.”
Roland White, Daily Mail