Putin vs the West

“It’s brilliant, and you have to watch it to understand how we got to where we are now. It is in fact so brilliant that you find yourself in the unexpected position of being almost on the edge of your seat listening to the testimony from the half-forgotten dullards – such as former French president Francois Hollande.”
Sean O’Grady, The Independent

“The skill of a good documentary is not just getting the right interviewees, but selecting the right quotes to give texture, including the trivial. Such as when Hollande, good value in this film, remarked, somewhat sorrowfully, that during an emergency summit about the crisis in Belarus they had to talk through the night, so the official dinner was cancelled. Instead, the leaders ate sandwiches, which were “not the freshest”. Can you bear it?”
Carol Midgley, The Times

“The documentary provided behind-the-scenes colour from those present, and it was fascinating. We got a real sense of the personalities involved.”
Anita Singh, The Telegraph

“This is the latest series from Norma Percy, whose style is to retell big political stories in the words of the people who were in the room. The problem with this type of documentary, which has been made in the west and achieves its prestige by interviewing only the most august politicians and their closest aides, is that there is no one credible to interrogate the west’s narrative.”
Jack Seale, The Guardian

“Veteran documentary producer Norma Percy’s phone contacts must make for impressive reading. She seems able to persuade just about every global mover and shaker to sit down and talk to her on camera. In fact, you wouldn’t have been entirely surprised if, in her latest series, Putin vs The West, Vladimir Putin himself had agreed to be interviewed.”
Gerard Gilbert, The i