The Gold; Dinosaur with Stephen Fry; Guy Martin’s Power Trip

“The Gold is, at times, very well told. The reach of this particular crime is fascinating – not just the idea that any gold jewellery you may have bought in Britain since 1984 is likely to contain traces of the Brink’s-Mat haul, but the suggestion that Canary Wharf was partly built on the proceeds of that robbery. The first episode in particular sets off with a narrative confidence – although it begins to drag around episode four – and the acting across the board is high quality.”
Anita Singh, The Telegraph

“There is certainly a risk that The Gold could fall into some Guy Ritchie-shaped traps. But the script is self-aware enough, if occasionally a bit heavy on the sign-posting, particularly when it came to commentary on class and gender. Overall, The Gold was a measured and well-executed drama willing to take its time over establishing how the deep roots of this single crime became threaded through the British criminal underworld and legitimate businesses alike. It might not be 24-karat, but it’s certainly solid enough.”
Rachel Sigee, The i

“The real story of Brink’s-Mat and its 30-year aftermath is so bloody and bullet-ridden it purportedly has its own curse, with at least six associated deaths to date. Yet in this show, even the pivotal 1985 killing of DC John Fordham happens entirely off-screen. Still, it would be unfair to fault a consistently entertaining TV drama for falling short of the gritty and gobsmacking truth.”
Ellen E Jones, The Guardian

“The Gold has huge shoes to fill in the vacated Happy Valley slot. DCI Boyce isn’t Catherine Cawood, but as a Sunday replacement we could do a whole lot worse.”
Carol Midgley, The Times

“This first episode of a four-part new series really is excellent, with helpful graphics, CGI dinosaurs, gripping experiments and expert insight.”
Stuart Jeffries, The Guardian

“Palaeontology is evolving almost as fast as television’s CGI technology. New dinosaur species are being discovered by scientists several times a month, and new TV series are recreating Jurassic life on Earth nearly as frequently. After the spectacular Prehistoric Planet show narrated by Sir David Attenborough for Apple TV last year, Dinosaur With Stephen Fry is less ambitious but more informative.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“The CGI isn’t terribly advanced. But the show is aimed at a family audience, and younger children should be perfectly happy with the quality. Whether younger viewers will be happy with the programme frequently cutting away from the action to scientists in museums will, I suppose, depend on the particular child and their attention span, but there are attempts to make those bits fun.”
Anita Singh, The Telegraph

“Full of phrases such as ‘climate emergency’ and ‘fuel crisis’, this series could have been a turn-off if fronted by an eco or consumer expert. Setting Martin loose instead was a masterstroke. Perhaps because he’s only a part-timer, Martin has a winningly natural screen presence. He swore. He described things as ‘mint’ or ‘mega’. He visibly lit up at any opportunities to get his hands dirty or cause mischief. This was accessible pop science, delivered with a wolfish grin.”
Michael Hogan, The Telegraph

“Some of it was decidedly dull: at one point, Guy was measuring the power load of appliances in his workshop. He found it costs 4p to boil his kettle. Fancy that. But he’s a happy soul, willing to have a go at anything, even shinning up an electricity pylon. That looked scary, until we saw a 1950s National Grid information film, with men vaulting over the metal rigging like circus acrobats.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail