Top Boy; Britain by the Book; Geordie Hospital; Decoding Turner

“After 12 years on with pauses caused by cancellation then Covid, Top Boy is paying a conclusive visit to the Summerhouse estate in six punchy episodes.”
Jasper Rees, The Telegraph

“In its final season, Top Boy delivers six tense, kinetic and moving episodes where our complex anti-heroes find themselves pushed to the brink.”
Leila Latif, The Guardian

“This concluding chapter of the Top Boy saga pulls none of its punches – if anything it makes too many of them, like a rabbit-punching flyweight – and demonstrates that a big American streamer can be trusted to tell Black, British stories.”
Nick Hilton, The Independent

“Even the smallest subplots are told with passion and, at times, righteous anger. But it’s not the stories or the action that you remember long after the episodes have ended. Instead, it’s the incredible performances that stick with you. Kano and Ashley Walters are reliably sullen throughout, yet maintain a magnetism that lifts even the (few) anodyne scenes.”
Emily Baker, The i

“It was a jolly, gentle potter around Dorset discussing Thomas Hardy, Enid Blyton and Ian McEwan’s On Chesil Beach, with Clunes continually giggling, the opposite of his character in Doc Martin. It’s a decent premise for a show. Celebrities travelling to the settings of books makes a welcome change, frankly, from watching them have luxury exotic holidays at someone else’s expense.”
Carol Midgley, The Times

“The concept, which feels like a pilot for a series, is to visit places that inspired popular works of literature, in this case in Dorset. Giedroyc and Clunes – cast as pals despite having not met for 25 years – execute one part of the job professionally well: wonderful company, they guffawed, they gossiped, they trousered the cheque. A difficulty arose when they had to talk about books, or Dorset. Giedroyc, notionally presenting, seemed disinclined to take the brief too seriously.”
Jasper Rees, The Telegraph

“This was a one-off ramble around Dorset, Martin’s home county, though there’s obvious potential for a nationwide series. But the duo leaned so heavily on Dorset’s Thomas Hardy heritage that other writers barely got a look-in.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“Telly can’t get enough of the NHS right now, and this series puts the emphasis on its extrovert characters. Housekeeper Pauline, the mother hen of the wards, bustles round making noisy conversation with the patients as she serves 600 cups of tea a week. Everyone was so cheerful, you could almost book a holiday there… but better not.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“Geordie Hospital is back and as ever its mission is to spread light and joy. The sort of health workers who want to appear in such shows are self-selecting, but in Newcastle’s two big hospitals they come fitted with extra-wide smiles. Unsaid was anything about bed shortages, waiting lists, whistleblowers or industrial action.”
Jasper Rees, The Telegraph

‘As an analysis of whether there is a cryptic extra layer of meaning in Turner’s paintings, it wasn’t always convincing but it was gripping. You can see faces in any cloud if you look long enough and sometimes they did get a bit carried away, perhaps seeing things that weren’t there. But did it make good TV? Without a doubt.”
Carol Midgley, The Times