“Jessop’s confidence and can-do attitude underpin and uplift the programme throughout and stop it from being a story of woe”
Tommy Jessop Goes To Hollywood, BBC1
“Expectations are pretty high in this charming and insightful documentary following Jessop and his older brother, film-maker Will, as they attempt to turn Tommy’s dream of playing the hero in a movie into reality. Jessop’s confidence and can-do attitude underpin and uplift the programme throughout and stop it from being a story of woe – he’s not looking for sympathy, he’s just looking for a fair chance.”
Cathy Reay, The Guardian
“What a life-affirming programme this was. Not merely for the study of Tommy’s life as a 38-year-old actor with Down’s syndrome (he appeared in Line of Duty) who is now trying to make a superhero film, but the love with which he is lavished by both his mother, Jane, and his elder brother, Will. Their tenderness was proper lump-in-the-throat stuff and an antidote to the daily horror dished up in the news.”
Carol Midgley, The Times
“Behind the camera, following Tommy’s efforts as well as being his travel companion, was his brother Will Jessop. On this evidence Will is an accomplished film-maker himself: he never patronised Tommy’s efforts, neither did he sugar-coat the odds that his brother was up against. It was a delightful, inspiring tale.”
Benji Wilson, The Telegraph
“The documentary should serve as a wake-up call to casting directors, not just of Tommy Jessop’s talent, but to a whole cohort of actors with Down’s syndrome who deserve a wider range of roles. Jessop came across here as dryly humorous and with an impressive inner-strength. Maybe the next James Bond isn’t such an outrageous suggestion after all.”
Gerard Gilbert, The i
“Meeting actors and film-makers in the course of a joyously heart-warming hour, he was making a serious point without waving banners or banging a drum: if Down’s syndrome is treated as a chromosomal mistake and eradicated by abortion, the world will be a far poorer place.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail
“It is rare for any drama to grab you by the scruff of the neck from the very first scene, let alone a costume one. But The Confessions of Frannie Langton is a gripping piece of work in which Karla Simone-Spence as the eponymous heroine is compelling. The plot is pretty good too.”
Carol Midgley, The Times
“The Confessions Of Frannie Langton is the most awful drama in years — an abysmal mishmash of woke cliches and gothic tosh, brimming with bitterness, resentment and fake history.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail
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