This Town; Mammals

“This Town is an ingenious piece of work, with such intelligence, ambition and heart – shot through with a borderline anarchic spirit – that it can and should overcome all resistance. It does take a bit of getting used to, as anything innovative will. There is – and there’s no easy way to say this – a lot of poetry going on, especially in voiceover, especially at the beginning, and the opening couple of episodes occasionally feel a bit oppressive. But it is compelling from the off, and certainly by episode three it has found the confidence to open up a bit, take a breath and even admit a few welcome comic moments as the tensions among the characters mount, the stakes rise and consequences build towards potential catastrophe.”
Lucy Mangan, the Guardian

“This Town is sharp and the music is, as with most of Steven Knight’s dramas, expertly weaponised. But episode one was also meandering, slow and, dare I say it, often self-indulgent. However, the good news is that it gathers pace once it has taken its time setting the scene.”
Carol Midgley, The Times

“Knight has stuck to his guns and developed the story at his own pace. At a time when TV executives demand that every episode of a drama must be filled with attention-grabbing scenes and end on a cliffhanger, This Town is wilfully different.”
Anita Singh, The Telegraph

“You might feel, with some justification, that the troubled home life of terrorists and their families is a dubious choice for a BBC drama. Knight is good, though, at depicting the moral complexities of lives caught up in violent crime without always glorifying it (though certainly he sometimes does).”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“Judging by the first episode, This Town has lots of potential. Knowing Knight, it could still go off the rails. But it was off to a positive start and it made for a refreshing gear-shift from the shallow bombast of Peaky Blinders.”
Ed Power, The i

“For all the sadness, all the exploitation and abuse, there is a joyful streak. Compared to many of Knight’s recent projects, the show feels personal to him, and, as a result, the characters come bursting into life. This Town is no ghost town.”
Nick Hilton, The Independent

“Mammals had all the expected hallmarks – Hollywood-worthy visuals; swelling orchestral score; soothing narration. This was breathtaking TV, crafted by the best mammals in the business: us humans, led by a certain tireless nonagenarian.”
Michael Hogan, The Telegraph

“Mammals might be wide in its scope but so far it is unerringly hunting down marvels.”
Jack Seale, the Guardian

“It was television to stir even the most silted of souls.”
Marianne Levy, The i