The Hunt for Raoul Moat; Scared of the Dark

“The Hunt for Raoul Moat was gruesomely riveting with a pressure cooker tension that ratcheted steadily upwards from the moment Moat stepped out of jail. The world is full of suffering and whether it is appropriate to repurpose it as Sunday night entertainment is a debate that will surely rumble on. However, as an indictment of toxic masculinity taken to its extreme and as a lament for lives destroyed, The Hunt for Raoul Moat packed a punch without ever feeling exploitative.”
Ed Power, The i

“ITV’s three-part The Hunt for Raoul Moat is a superbly directed (by Gareth Bryn) dramatisation of Moat’s last murderous days on earth in the summer of 2010, during which he managed to evade the police for a week and kill, maim and destroy the lives of those around him. The drama is a tense and faithful re-enactment of what happened, and why.”
Sean O’Grady, The Independent

“The Hunt for Raoul Moat turned out not to be a voyeuristic rehash but a thoughtful, sensible telling of the monstrous 2010 rampage of this misogynistic, pudding-faced bully. It reminded us of the people who really matter: his victims.”
Carol Midgley, The Times

“The Hunt for Raoul Moat’s triumph is that it gets the balance right: Moat, played by Matt Stokoe, is never glamorised or even shown much beyond what was necessary, and if his demise is tense, it is no more tense than the courtroom scene that sees his miserable accomplices jailed.”
Benji Wilson, The Telegraph

“It is easy to admire the technical aspects of the direction and performances, and to feel that the show’s cold, desaturated palette further enhances the seriousness with which it takes its horrific subject matter. Paul Gascoigne’s antics are barely glanced at, and tragedy is at the fore. While unrelenting bleakness is not necessarily the way to make the greatest of television, it will, at least, extinguish any ideas that Raoul Moat was a hero to anyone.”
Leila Latif, The Guardian

“Did you enjoy watching grainy footage of minor celebrities groping around in the dark repeatedly shrieking “f***”? I’ve had more fun punching my own face. True, it’s early days, and reality shows take time to bed in, but the main snag with Scared of the Dark is that it makes for a poor viewing experience.”
Carol Midgley, The Times

“It is impossible to predict what will become a viral meme but if Chris Eubank shadow-boxing in the dark, punching himself in the face and knocking off his own glasses (which were entirely superfluous as he was in the dark and couldn’t see anyway) doesn’t break the internet in the next two days then I am not a digital super-forecaster. It was the sole highlight of a dire first episode of Scared of the Dark.”
Benji Wilson, The Telegraph

“This show appears to be shot in Vampire Vision. The technology is remarkable. But the format is pathetic, a mixture of ghost train scares and party games based on blind man’s buff.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“The premise is terrific, the experiment original, but the bloated hour-long episodes require a strained itinerary. The use of tasks to unlock food and other treats becomes a distraction from the interpersonal dynamics – and the psychological torture of being locked in a room with Chris Eubank.”
Nick Hilton, The Independent

“Scared of the Dark is the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen. Channel 4’s new reality series is Celebrity Big Brother without the lights on, featuring eight celebrities in a wholly unilluminated bunker – specially constructed within a hangar somewhere, I presume, on the road to hell.”
Lucy Mangan, The Guardian