Miss Scarlet and the Duke; Lucy Worsley Investigates; Halftime; Elephant Hospital

“Miss Scarlet and the Duke is a title that suggests a dynamic duo busting crimes while breezily bickering. The title is misleading, though. Miss Scarlet and the Duke, back for a second series of handsomely recreated Victoriana, doesn’t really go for wisecracks, preferring to ride on its USP of a corseted female private eye in a patriarchal era. Yet even with some minor romantic sparring with her humourless copper counterpart, William ‘the Duke’ Wellington (Stuart Martin), this felt more like TV to zone out to, to enter a glazed, meditative state, semi-registering the case of the week at hand.”
James Jackson, The Times

“You learnt quite a lot here. And if this final episode lacked the angry punch of the first about the witch-hunts, Worsley still ended up with a visible ‘tear in my eye’. If nothing else, that’s a new kind of progressive history presenting.”
James Jackson, The Times

“A large segment of this programme tried to categorise the King’s condition. For decades it was believed to be caused by porphyria, a complaint that affects the liver. Lucy dismissed that as fake science peddled by arch-royalists who wanted to absolve the monarch of the stigma of mental illness. Instead, she turned to Sir Simon Wessely at King’s College London, who entered all George’s known symptoms into a computer to come up with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder. Since we can’t prescribe 21st-century medications for a man who died 200 years ago, there seems little point in saddling the poor fellow with a modern diagnosis.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“This hugely entertaining, if occasionally comically serious, film follows Jennifer Lopez from the day of her 50th birthday celebrations to the Super Bowl half-time show she co-headlined with Shakira in 2020. At first, the star of Halftime threatens to be Lopez’s diamond-encrusted drink cups, but there is much to be fascinated by in this behind-the-curtains portrait of life as a megastar. Over 90 minutes, it reveals itself to be a curious, intriguing mix.”
Rebecca Nicholson, The Guardian

“It was hard to stay dry-eyed as octogenarian Boon Nim went for her daily shower at a sanctuary in Thailand on Elephant Hospital. Other elephants, including a cheeky baby, splashed around in the river at bath time. That was a charming scene, and it’s a shame that Elephant Hospital doesn’t screen more of this. Instead, the show has an endless obsession with dung. Who over the age of four wants to see that?”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail