Platonic; Ben Fogle and the Buried City; Inside Kabul

“Platonic does a lot of lovely and rarely seen things. It doesn’t denigrate marriage, although it acknowledges its peaks and troughs. It gives an equally meaty, equally comic, but emotionally resonant, part to its male and female star (both of whom are brilliant in their solo scenes, and whose chemistry together is even more of a joy to watch). It gives time and space to an undervalued and overlooked stage of life. It is not quite the platonic ideal of a modern buddy comedy – some episodes are a bit baggy and drain momentum, although it always picks back up – but it’s close.”
Lucy Mangan, The Guardian

There is potential here. Set pieces can be enjoyably silly, and some of the comedy is nicely-observed, as when Sylvia shows Will a picture of her kids during their strained first meet-up and instead of faking interest he says: ‘Well… there they are.’ But mostly the writing feels too smug. The aimless dialogue only serves to highlight that the plot is going nowhere, and that these two find themselves far more hilarious than we do. The line between endearing and obnoxious is quite fine.”
Anita Singh, The Telegraph

“I hate to be the person who says ‘give it three episodes’ especially since the demographic at which Platonic is aimed is hardly wallowing in spare time, so better, perhaps, to say, hold on through those opening scenes and reserve your judgement. For it’s not long before the show unfurls into what it really is; a sharply scripted, briskly paced and, ultimately sweet-hearted look at midlife.”
Marianne Levy, The i

“One could say the hour didn’t quite have the wow factor of Fogle’s 2021 trip to Chernobyl if such a comparison didn’t seem a bit crass. And anyway, he always does one thing really well. At one point he met the only person living in the exclusion zone: a hermit in a giant red bandana who traps agoutis for dinner, and as well-spoken Englishness brushed up against stoned Rasta patois, you wondered what it is about Fogle that makes him click so well with off-grid eccentrics.”
James Jackson, The Times

“The southern half of the island is now an exclusion zone. Visiting with a guide, Ben looked ill at ease. He’s no adrenaline junkie — comfortable chatting to hermits and nomads on the fringes of society, but not drawn to disaster for its own sake. Ben was happier chatting to Jumblack, a lone farmer who was defying officialdom by living in a house in the shadow of the volcano. Jumblack was monosyllabic at first, but Ben’s expert and sympathetic questioning persuaded him to open up.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“Inside Kabul, an unusually short Storyville, found a novel way to bring podcast material to the screen — use animated imagery. In doing so it brought to life the intimate voice-note diaries (exchanged with the journalist Caroline Gillet) of two female friends dealing with the return of the Taliban in Afghanistan.”
James Jackson, The Times

“The women’s voices were recorded in secret, with the audio replayed over simple animations that gave the half-hour film an oddly childlike quality — like a nightmarish Watch With Mother story. A brave and valuable testimony.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail