Red Rose; Porn King: the Rise and Fall of Ron Jeremy

“If there was anything retro here it was the curiously analogue, almost am-dram feel of some scenes, as if you were watching something from the early 1990s. Or perhaps that was just the 1990s dance anthems being played as we met the young people enjoying a post-GCSEs party on the moors in broad daylight. You may have found your toes curling at the rave shapes being thrown, then found yourself reaching for the remote as various frenemies bitched about who’s being invited to a party and so on. Yet a sense of promise lingered and started to deliver.”
James Jackson, The Times 

“The creators, Michael and Paul Clarkson, have previous with horror hokum but here they make something more engaging. The two leads, Rochelle (Isis Hainsworth) and Wren (Amelia Clarkson), are up to their necks in plausible teenage vexation, already featuring poverty, childcare, broken homes and our old friend wastrel dads.”
Stuart Jeffries, The Guardian 

“Paul and Michael Clarkson have given the series a real, gritty contrast to the fake-pretty app graphics by setting it in their Northern hometown, with its abandoned industrial buildings surrounded by moorland. ”
Helen Brown, The Telegraph 

“In many ways, this series nails the complexities of teenage life – jealousy, angst, and the dread of “missing out” feels relatable and familiar. Its talented young cast gives life to the dialogue, making the characters feel grounded in both their playful banter and their understandable fears. Yet, Red Rose suffers from a clash of big ideas, all vying for our attention at any one time: virtual reality, ghosts, exorcisms, mental health struggles and poverty. The show seems as if it’s uncertain of what it wants to be, and in its attempt to cover all bases of the thriller genre, the story becomes fuzzy. 
Nicole Vassell, The Independent 

“Applying the augmented reality of Pokémon Go to a teenager’s most crushing trauma, Red Rose captured the internet’s dizzying expanse of possibilities along with the astonishing bleakness of its deepest depths. Set in a not-too-disnt future – or perhaps a parallel universe – the technology in Red Rose is more familiar than it is novel.
Emily Watkins,  The i 

“The documentary gives fair time and weight to each side and leaves it up to the viewer to decide which they find the more convincing. The women who are part of the case against him oscillate between rage and weariness. Rage of a different sort bubbles away underneath most of the interviews with the others – occasionally, as with the pastor when he snarls “Let me fucking finish talking” at the interviewer, breaking the surface. Depressing and distressing, yes. But terrifying, too.”
Lucy Mangan, The Guardian 

“Sex industry insiders used to joke that there are just three things a porn star should never do: animals, underage actors and Ron Jeremy. That punchline carries a much darker tone, now that the walrus king of the 1980s porn scene has been charged in California At times, the allegations were agonising to hear”
Helen Brown, The Telegraph