Nick Knowles in South America; Alaska Daily; The Acolyte

“Knowles, best known for his sterling work on DIY: SOS, is a likeable presenter. Which is lucky, because this is one of those travelogues that is more about the host than the country. The first 10 minutes involved him climbing up a rock face, which taught me a lot about how he deals with heights but not very much about Chile. This is not a programme to make you think, ooh, I quite fancy going there on holiday. Unless, that is, you like holidays that involve visiting biofuel plants or finding worms in big tanks of sewage.”
Anita Singh, The Telegraph

“Non-stop activities, that’s some people’s idea of a holiday. Off the ship to see the sun rise over the mountains, breakfast 50 miles up the road, back to the coast for water-skiing before lunch. Just the thought of all that leaves me knackered. It’s a bit much for Nick Knowles, too, in his new travel show. Most of the time he’s out of breath, and sometimes he can hardly stand up to say his bit to camera. The trouble with holidays like that is you forget half the things you’ve done because they’re over so quickly. It’s the same with this show. Far better to spend longer on some of the interesting segments and leave others out.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“Somewhere in here is a daringly kind and low-key show about the importance of small things and the value of humble decency, which – if it were possible to get such a thing commissioned in the first place – would be better off without the contrived antagonism of a big-city firebrand shaking everyone up. Unfortunately for Hilary Swank, Alaska Daily doesn’t really need her.”
Jack Seale, The Guardian

“The Acolyte benefits from being a fresh start for the creators and the audience alike, with no homework required. Things may skew a little familiar in the early running but the subversive creator Leslye Headland surely has some more sneaky rug-pulls up her sleeve, a tantalising prospect that makes The Acolyte worth sticking with.”
Graeme Virtue, The Guardian

“On the evidence of the four episodes handed out to reviewers the latest effort on Disney’s Star Wars treadmill is a commendably different but uneven addition to the saga. There’s no Empire here, no star destroyers, no armies of good guys battling bad guys, which is no bad thing. Instead it’s a manhunt thriller, oddly low-key in feel, punctuated by sombre expositional dialogue.”
James Jackson, The Times