Mr & Mrs Smith; The Apprentice

“It is fast, fun and witty. Care has been taken with every aspect. It gives unexpected spins to expected beats and traditional tropes: the disposal of an unplanned corpse; the navigation of a mission in the Dolomites when you can’t ski. At one point, a man jeopardises their situation because he won’t break contact with his mother; usually, this character is a woman unable to resist keeping in touch with her child. It is a glorious and moreish treat.”
Lucy Mangan, The Guardian

“The results feel surprisingly fresh, because show creators Francesca Sloane and Donald Glover have eschewed the easy option – a dumb action thriller – in favour of something wittier and more thoughtful. It has a low-key, slightly 1970s aesthetic, which is where the casting of Glover comes in handy because I can’t think of many other actors who would look good in flares. He can also act, which is a major improvement on the film.”
Anita Singh, The Telegraph

“Despite a relatively chaste tone, Mr & Mrs Smith manages to be one of the sexiest shows on TV. And somehow, even with all the balaclavas and firearms and computer hacking, one of the most truthful ones.”
Nick Hilton, The Independent

“Back for its 18th series, everything was the same old, except that the candidates seemed to be even more gormless than usual. I have suspected for some time that the researchers don’t go for the brightest and the best, they actively go for the dimmest and most deluded. How else could they have amassed such a comically incompetent bunch? It almost feels cruel.”
Carol Midgley, The Times

“If this were a business programme, it would get a zero-star rating. As a comedy, though, it is very funny. That’s partly down to the casting – thousands apply, and the programme-makers work really hard to select the most stupidly un-self-aware – but mostly to the editing, which highlights the stupidity.”
Anita Singh, The Telegraph

“This was an excruciating non-stop catalogue of crises, an hour-long wallow in failure. Two decades of this show have convinced an entire generation that doing business in Britain means fouling everything up. The pity is, they’re probably right.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“In its 18th series since 2005, Lord Sugar’s talent search has become boringly formulaic and increasingly pointless. No one really believes that any of these candidates will become the next titans of business – the show’s track record isn’t great on that score. And you can probably learn more about entrepreneurship from 10 minutes of Dragons’ Den than from an entire series of The Apprentice.”
Gerard Gilbert, The i

“Eighteen seasons in, no one is sitting down in front of The Apprentice to observe shining examples of business expertise – we’re here to watch egos in freefall. It might be formulaic, but it’s reliably, deliciously satisfying.”
Katie Rosseinsky, The Independent