The Old Man; This England; I Hate You

“I thought The Old Man was going to be another spy thriller, the kind of thing where gruff blokes shout and shoot. But oddly enough, when the pace slows down, it reveals itself to be more clever than that. It’s still packed with gratifying twists and turns, and doesn’t shy away from a real shock or two each episode, but there’s a lot of additional pleasure to be had in watching a series like this, when those twists are handled with expert precision, and executed very well.”
Rebecca Nicholson, The Guardian 

“There are shades of The Fugitive and Rambo and last year’s Bob Odenkirk film, Nobody. And there’s a bit of wish-fulfilment here: despite his advancing years, Chase can still beat up men half his age. For an action thriller, though, it can still be a bit slow at times. Chase isn’t afraid to get into fights ⁠– but he does take quite a while to get his breath back afterwards.”
Anita Singh, The Telegraph

“The natural intelligence of Bridges’s acting, and an overall emphasis on character, helps with some plausibility issues in the plot — such as a romance with a motel owner (Amy Brenneman) — while stopping things becoming too Liam Neeson. Fans of that kind of action fare may find the pace here can drag as the question nags away: is Chase a good guy or not? The Old Man is solid and polished, with a rather muted, almost numbed atmosphere — the sort of high-quality thing that would work well watched in business class. Bridges, however, is first-class all round.” James Jackson, The Times

“Even if unintentional, the show is all about Boris Johnson, and the great problem with Branagh’s performance is that it’s simultaneously a fairly poor impression and an enormously distracting one. He paces and preens (not helped by a script that gives him lines like, “power is an aphrodisiac and absolute power is absolutely aphrodisiacal”) and the audience is constantly reminded that this is supposed to be BORIS JOHNSON. Scarcely a scene goes by without him trotting out a gobbet of Elizabethan poetry or Greek verse; it is characterisation with all the depth of a Wikipedia sub-category. Branagh is a showy actor at the best of times, and in this he draws the eye away from much subtler performances”
Nick Hilton, The Independent

“As he waddles around Downing Street in This England (Sky Atlantic), his shoulders are rigid, his head is thrust forward. No one has made walking look so awkward since Lurch the butler in The Addams Family. His ridiculous posture fails to capture any of the bumbling charisma or overgrown schoolboy charm of the real Boris. It’s a criticism that extends to the whole of this six-part docudrama”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“Anyone hoping for a Downing Street version of Wolf Hall – or indeed The Crown – may have been disappointed. The focus was too scattered and at this stage Branagh’s Johnson remains an almost peripheral figure, pottering about, doing very little work and forever spouting Shakespeare (a cinch for Sir Kenneth) or finding someone to walk his dog, Dilyn.This is probably not far from the truth. Branagh does a great job of impersonating Johnson’s gait, mannerisms and mien (although he looks older around the eyes than the ex-PM), without really telling us much that’s new about the man. But this is a thoughtful drama and hopefully a more incisive portrait will emerge.”
Gerard Gilbert, The i

“The tone lurches between observational and self-consciously zany. Flashes of surrealism include a talking horse. Charlie’s hapless boss is called Bob Oxygen, like someone on secondment from Toast of London. Several storylines involve lost keys or head injuries, suggesting a dearth of ideas. Too many scenes end on a pratfall or toilet gag as an easy way out. The blaring soundtrack, smash cuts and wonky camera angles can’t conceal a mediocre script…I suspect Channel 4 knows it has a flop on its hands. That’s probably why I Hate You is debuting on the broadcaster’s catch-up service with little fanfare, before sneaking sheepishly onto terrestrial in a fortnight. Creator Popper and his two talented leads are far better than this disappointing mess.”
Michael Hogan, The Telegraph