Queen of Oz; Van der Valk; We Love Glastonbury

“Queen of Oz is a solidly written show – well-constructed, lots of callbacks within each episode, and nicely drawn relationships among the main and peripheral characters. What it is not, to me at least, is spectacularly funny. But the whole remains, nevertheless, extraordinarily watchable.”
Lucy Mangan, The Guardian

“Queen of Oz feels simultaneously desperate and lazy, with Catherine Tate thirsting for laughs but not bothering to put in the basic legwork: her character is a member of the Royal family, yet Tate only keeps up the posh accent about 20 per cent of the time. The central idea could be fun if it was done better. The problem is that Tate has created a character who isn’t remotely likeable.”
Anita Singh, The Telegraph

“There are so many glorious examples of heinous, unlikeable central characters in sitcoms done well, it’s one of my favourite sitcom tropes. But it takes nuance, originality and empathy to keep the laughs coming. Princess Georgiana is quite awful, but in a relentless way that’s seemingly detached from any sympathetic motive.”
Rachael Healy, The i

“Marc Warren is a charismatic big hitter as Piet van der Valk and his performance here was no exception. But his shoulders must be bulked up given that he carries almost everything. And he was working with industrial portions of ham here. Van der Valk can be good at times. This wasn’t one of them.”
Carol Midgley, The Times

“What lets this series down every time is its plots, which are never very good. This one also featured the obligatory plot device of a young woman being kidnapped and tied up and made to scream a lot. If the scripts and storylines improved, this could be a good show. But when you find yourself neither wondering nor caring about who committed the murder, it’s a bad sign.”
Anita Singh, The Telegraph

“The whole episode was odd and unbelievable. It was as if someone had a vision of police chasing a bunch of dodgy gymnasts, and couldn’t think what else to do with this bright idea. All this is a pity, because the Amsterdam backdrops are as seedily picturesque as ever, and writer Chris Murray’s script is shot through with clever lines.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“This is a Glastonbury greatest hits, sandwiched together with perfectly pleasant chat, from perfectly engaging people, and it is just fine as an opening act. It made me intensely envious of everyone who is going this year, and it reminded me of many magical moments I have been lucky enough to enjoy there.”
Rebecca Nicholson, The Guardian