The Great British Sewing Bee; The Girl From Plainville; Drag Me To Dinner; Missing: The Lucie Blackman Case

“The Great British Bake Off’s sister shows continue to captivate as much, if not more, than the mothership contest. The Great Pottery Throwdown has become a kiln-fired winter treat, thanks to adorably soppy judge Keith Brymer Jones. Now the latest series of The Great British Sewing Bee (BBC1)  reached its climax, having built a devoted fanbase – 3 million viewers live, 2 million more on catch-up – making it one of the most popular programmes on-air right now. This delightful finale demonstrated why.”
Michael Hogan, Telegraph

“For the final challenge, the contestants had to design a catwalk creation that transformed itself while being worn. Quick-change costumes are one thing, but these dresses had to reinvent themselves like chameleons changing colour, all in one fluid motion. I had no idea such a thing was even possible, and how it was achieved is a mystery to me.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“Sewing Bee is the televisual equivalent of a “nice person”, the adjective more a curse than a compliment for someone insipid. Unobjectionable, well-meaning, ferociously dull, I know that the series is beloved of many readers – maybe I’m just not nice enough to get the appeal, but that’s OK by me. Personally, I prefer my hems a little ragged.”
Emily Watkins, The i

“A true-crime drama, loosely based on a 2014 case in Massachusetts, USA, in which a 17-year-old girl was suspected of urging an online boyfriend to kill himself. Elle Fanning plays manipulative Michelle, practising her tears in front of a mirror and fuming whenever anyone invades her limelight for even a moment. It’s a strong performance, unrecognisable from her turn as the naive, headstrong Russian empress Catherine in The Great. But the production has a clunky, old-fashioned feel, with detectives who talk and act like they’re in a 1990s police drama. The online chat is unconvincing too — long-winded, written in full sentences, with punctuation and good spelling … not the way any teenager is likely to use text. If they did, perhaps I’d be able to understand them.
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“Elle Fanning is terrific as Carter, distilling the intensity of typical teenage self-absorption and immaturity but also conveying Carter’s narcissism, her enjoyment at being at the centre of a dark, painful drama. (Although she had met Conrad only a few times, she was furious that his mother, played skilfully by Chloë Sevigny, scattered his ashes without her, saying, “I was the only one that mattered to him.”) While it may not have the attention to detail and depth that an earlier documentary had, it is as alarming as it is absorbing.”
Carol Midgley, The Times

“Drag fans will be pleased with the all-star lineup, and it improves as it goes along, as the comedy gets pushed to the front. But I would suggest that this is more of an occasional treat than a feast of a binge-watch. I’m not sure I could take more than an episode or two in one sitting, such is the level of everything, everywhere, all at once.”
Rebecca Nicholson, The Guardian

“While it was moving to see the Japanese detectives still honouring Lucie’s memory annually, there was too little mention of the other victims, which might have offered fresh insight. It was a story told with dignity and care, but I was left with a sense it was only partially told.”
Carol Midgley, The Times