The Hardacres; Alma’s Not Normal; Solar System

“The Hardacres will not, I suspect, win any awards for subtlety. The poor folk are pure noble souls and the rich boss is a heartless one-dimensional sex predator with mutton-chop whiskers. It could almost be a Disney story, so black-and-white are the characters, a sort of Cinderella at the fish docks. But there is also an old-fashioned simplicity to this rags-to-riches tale. If it’s untaxing, escapist fare you want, this will do fine.”
Carol Midgley, The Times

“Anyone who misses the days of regular Catherine Cookson adaptations on television will be delighted by The Hardacres. It is in the Cookson mould, a rags-to-riches story which begins in the 1890s and features handsome men, feisty women and dastardly employers. It is made with the sure touch of Playground, the production company behind All Creatures Great and Small, and is perfect for autumn nights.”
Anita Singh, The Telegraph

“Ultimately, The Hardacres is about class – one of the UK’s favourite topics and ample fuel for endless fascinating storylines. Unfortunately, that potential was squandered. Rather than investigating how money affects identity, the intersection of what people want and what they have access to, The Hardacres peddled a patronising fairy story with as much substance as the baffling building society ad campaign shoehorned into its opening episode. The Hardacres might have hit the jackpot, but their story made for paltry entertainment.”
Emily Watkins, The i

“Daft though it all is, this six-part drama does bowl along.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“This is the final series of Alma’s Not Normal – although Sophie Willan has said there is a Christmas special in the works. I’m not sure what the latter would achieve, considering this run ends on such a powerfully bittersweet and satisfyingly meta note. As an elegy to her real grandmother, Alma’s Not Normal is eloquent, radiantly beautiful and – in the Nuttall vernacular – totally fabulous. And as a furiously real yet incorrigibly hilarious sitcom, it’s pretty much perfect.”
Rachel Aroesti, The Guardian

“This is first and foremost a triumph of writing and performance, but credit should also be given to the commissioners and executives who must have had to push to get this kind of thing made at all. I can’t think there’s much of a pressing commercial case for a series about ‘a Bolton girl with the energy of Helen Mirren’ as Alma styles herself, but you only have to watch an episode of Alma’s Not Normal to realise that it is very much not normal: in a time when nerdish fantasies and ghoulish crime dramas predominate, it’s one to cherish.”
Benji Wilson, The Telegraph

“Alma’s Not Normal has never shoved its politics down your throat, but its exasperation with the welfare state (or lack thereof) is easy to detect. It’s this societal awareness that lifts Alma’s Not Normal out of being just another daft sitcom – though it is wonderfully daft. Willan has created something truly special: a genuinely funny sitcom with a political streak, that also happens to be a celebration of family and the Bolton way of life.”
Emily Baker, The i

“Brian Cox is an excellent communicator, making physics accessible even to dunces like me, and this was no exception: a dramatic, lyrical explanation of volcanic power on Earth and other planets. Cox really is good at this stuff.”
Carol Midgley, The Times

“It’s all beautifully shot, and Cox is good at explaining the science in layman’s terms without treating the audience like idiots.”
Anita Singh, The Telegraph