Showtrial; Chimp Crazy; The Cleaner

“If you want a legal drama that hooks you in with dynamic acting and a twisting plot that works its briefs off to keep you guessing then this second edition of writer Ben Richards’s cleverly worked franchise passes with flying colours. But if you’d rather steer clear of crime stories that try to shoehorn as many issues of the day into the plot until the story all but buckles under the strain, then Showtrial is guilty as charged.”
Keith Watson, The Telegraph

“This time, it has dipped into its grab-bag of headlines and come up with a story about the tactics of climate activism, offensive police WhatsApp group chats and online conspiracy theories. It may leave the impression that it is spinning too many plates, but the plot is captivating and once again touches on the class tensions within British society.”
Rebecca Nicholson, The Guardian

“The scene in which the protestor was killed felt like a tired cliche from an action movie: the victim tried to out-pedal the pursuing car, when there was nothing to stop him from leaping off his bike and diving for the safety of the ditch. And much of the dialogue and plot-setting seemed equally forced at the beginning of this six-part series. But the drama is rescued by its two central performances. Adeel Akhtar and Michael Socha have an instant rapport that turns all their scenes into a double act.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“Richards cherry-picks whose backstory he fleshes out, which makes the drama a little uneven. And yet, like light coming through trees, tension is gradually built up as the trial proceeds, until it turns the knuckles white. The last half-hour of the fourth episode – in which the two square off at one another, alternately digging through layers of self-protection and trading insults – is surely the most electrifying television of 2024. It’s only when the credits roll that you realise you’d been holding your breath all along.”
Nick Duerden, The i

“Is it worth the full five hours? Well. Having seen them all, I can say — yes. There is a decent twist, episodes four and five are splendid and Michael Socha is its forte.”
Carol Midgley, The Times

“Chimp Crazy is not as flashy or bonkers as Tiger King. Tonia Haddix is certainly a ‘character’, with her Dolly Parton-ish image and her unblinking insistence on the maternal bond between a woman and her chimp babies… But there is a bleakness to the twisted relationships on show, the unmet needs of both humans and animals that suffuses the whole in a way that the crassness of Joe Exotic and – you know – all the hitman-hiring stuff allowed Tiger King to avoid.”
Lucy Mangan, The Guardian

“The end result felt deeply depressing, leaving the impression that Haddix and the rest of the chimpanzee fanciers featured need help, not exposure in a four-hour documentary series that shamelessly takes the moral high ground despite being built on shaky foundations. But it’s the chimpanzees you feel truly sorry for, chained and caged in the name of deluded mother love. If Chimp Crazy pushes the case for outlawing such treatment further, then it’s all to the good.”
Keith Watson, The Telegraph

“Coming to a third run, there is a sense that The Cleaner is reaching the outer limits of crime-scene cleaning-based comedy. Even with Davies’s unique talents – and he has the sort of big, funny bones that can raise a laugh when he’s doing nothing – The Cleaner feels like a series on a leash. It wants to go full Atlanta, leave behind its original log-line and metamorphose into something new. But it never quite does. The jobs may be getting weirder but the series, to my mind, could get weirder still.”
Benji Wilson, The Telegraph

“The first two series of The Cleaner were undeniably patchy, but having seen the opening three episodes of the third, it has finally found its stride. With larger casts (and therefore fewer two-handers), the stories can be more expansive, while the lightly applied backstory about Wicky’s relationship with police officer Ruth (Zita Sattar) gives the show a token sense of continuity. But The Cleaner is essentially about throwing Wicky into a variety of bizarre situations and laughing as he struggles to deal with them. A bit like Taskmaster really.”
Gerard Gilbert, The i