“It was this ancestry show at its most entertaining, and the rest of the series will face a challenge to better it”

Who Do You Think You Are Andrew Lloyd Webber

Who Do You Think You Are?, BBC1

“It probably felt a stretch for researchers on Who Do You Think You Are? to find in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s distant bloodline the convenient parallel of not only a musical theatre entrepreneur but also an ace cellist like his brother, Julian. I imagine they rolled their eyes and thought: “Yeah, not asking much, then.” But, what do you know? I often find Who Do You Think You Are? dull. This was one of the better ones.
Carol Midgley, The Times

“Mr Magito — his five-times-great-grandfather — had a tightrope act on roller skates, which could almost be the inspiration for Lord L-W’s roller-musical Starlight Express. He also had a brother called Alexis, a composer and a brilliant cellist. Since Andrew’s brother Julian is also a celebrated cellist, the coincidence of history repeating itself was almost too much to believe. ‘It really is something I could not possibly have dreamt of,’ Andrew declared. ‘I can say I’m blown away.’ It was this ancestry show at its most entertaining, and the rest of the series will face a challenge to better it.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“It appeared that age had mellowed the composer. Now 75, Lloyd-Webber pottered around affably, tinkling out a snatch of Don’t Cry for Me Argentina on a pub piano. Bravo to him for keeping the past in perspective.”
Helen Brown, Telegraph

Strike: Inside the Unions, BBC2

“The woman who couldn’t join the Amazon picket line in Coventry but supported the strike epitomised how poverty weakens the worker. She was so underpaid she couldn’t afford to strike. “I cannot afford to live,” she said. “I pawned my wedding ring and only got it back last week. That’s how much they pay us.” This is crying out for a second series.”
Carol Midgley, The Times

The Days, Netflix

“It feels borderline immoral to criticise The Days, a serenely measured and thorough dramatisation of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster and its aftermath. The resourcefulness and courage of the men on duty at the power station at the hideous moment when calamity struck, who stayed for a week afterwards working to avoid a much worse catastrophe, deserves our deep respect. But as a drama, The Days is too respectful: its desire not to leave anything out might result in tired viewers abandoning their posts.”
Jack Seale, The Guardian 

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