The Change; The She Goes; And Just Like That…

A 50-year-old woman called Linda goes to her GP and tells him she thinks she has, ‘early-onset dementia and osteoporosis, ringing in my ears when I’m stressed, anxiety, depression, cardio-vascular disease and a strange mental disorder involving loss of nouns.’ The doctor asks, ‘How are your moods?’ She yells, ‘FINE!! HOW ARE YOURS?’ Bridget Christie’s menopause sitcom The Change is crammed with as many themes, storylines and grievances as Linda has symptoms. But it’s also generously stuffed with gags, which makes up for its bagginess.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“[Briget]Christie is on fine form as a woman reclaiming her life, explaining to a blundering local in the pub (Paul Whitehouse) why she is so content to be sitting there on her own, having a drink and reading a book: “I’ve spent most of my adult life putting other people’s feelings and needs before my own, even those of complete strangers like you, just politely listening. I’m not going to do that for a bit, and it feels so great.””
Anita Singh, Telegraph

“It’s sun-dappled woodland clearings, the peaceful companionship of a half-empty pub, and a wistful folk music soundtrack – like a less blokey Detectorists. But while that beloved BBC show was content to meander towards some sense of meaning, The Change strides purposefully towards its culmination, in a revamped, gender-balanced version of the village’s annual festival. Linda features centrally in this, of course, in a series of sensational outfits (we’re calling it Sheela-na-gig chic), while delivering speeches on the stages of womanhood that are genuinely affecting.”
Ellen E Jones, The Guardian 

“This is a comedy-drama and it can be wonderfully funny, mostly thanks to David Tennant as dad Simon. Dry humour is his default setting. “The police think we’re Fred and Rosemary West. I can’t even lay a patio, let alone bury 12 bodies under it,” he tells wife Emily (Jessica Hynes), when a constable comes to the door.”
Anita Singh, Telegraph

“This one-off episode began in familiar fashion, with an outing that resulted in Rosie flailing about on the pavement and a visit from the police because onlookers had reported a child being abducted. “You’d have to be insane to kidnap her,” quipped Simon, forgetting that it’s probably best practice never to joke with the police.”
Gerard Gilbert, The i

“There She Goes is more than a show trying to be funny about a hard situation; it is a show about funny people who wouldn’t survive their situation if they couldn’t wisecrack their way through it. One of countless lovely touches is the way it never forgets who Em and Si used to be: the new episode has Rosie surging into puberty, which prompts the series’ most disturbing scene yet, but also makes Em wonder whether Rosie – grumpy, inert, no friends – is a goth and should have a poster of Wayne Hussey from the Mission above her bed. Si gets the reference.”

Jack Seale, The Guardian

“The new season is just as smug, irritating and brimming with the first-world problems of spoilt, rich, whiney clothes horses as we’ve come to expect. To be honest, I’d be disappointed if it weren’t. It is also made with astonishingly high production values which, I hate to admit, makes it pretty watchable. But hell, it’s annoying.”
Carol Midgley, The Times

“So far though, this is a paint by numbers revival that favours egg drama over the sort of thorny relationship issues that were the engine of the original series. Carrie’s usually at her best when she’s merrily penning clichés, and there’s not that much of that here – things would certainly improve if she gets off the pod and back on her laptop. So far, it’s all just a bit dull.”
Francesca Steele, The i