Young, Black and Right-Wing; Hurst; The People’s Piazza

“The presenter Zeze Millz, to her credit, does hold some of the most dangerous rhetoric to account. She occasionally fires back with statistics and acknowledges when the points her subjects are making are racist. She also makes the show eminently watchable as a witty and expressive host with an ability to roll her eyes so hard you fear her retinas may detach. But in the slim one-hour run-time, we breeze through her own political beliefs and a variety of approaches to being young, rightwing and black without truly scrutinising any.”
Leila Latif, The Guardian

“It was fibrous, challenging stuff, putting some right-wing voices front and centre on Channel 4 of all places: a supposed lefty-liberal fortress. But the manner of the debate drove me nuts. As part of the government’s new media bill there should be a law, making people who describe themselves as ‘outspoken’ the very last to speak. Because without that you end up with a finger-wagging donnybrook such as in Young, Black and Right-Wing, a series of people shouting at one another while simultaneously conceding that they respected the other’s right to shout back.”
Benji Wilson, The Telegraph

“All this might have been very revealing a couple of years ago, but now we have had Kwasi Kwarteng as chancellor, and James Cleverly is our Foreign Secretary, it didn’t entirely come as a surprise.”
Roland White, Daily Mail

“In this excellent documentary, which interwove match analysis and personal interviews, drawing Hurst out on the family tragedies he has suffered, what was remarkable was the absence of bitterness about the fact that today he’d be drowning in cash, an advertiser’s demigod. All the 1966 players got was a belated £1,000 bonus and a dinner to which their wives weren’t invited. Hurst’s modest demeanour and gift for understatement presented as the antithesis of the spoilt swagger and immense wealth of many footballing superstars today.”
Carol Midgley, The Times

“This profile of England’s 1966 hero was a reminder of how much football has changed, in a game now transformed by money. Like the man himself, it was a respectable, respectful documentary which did the job and never overstepped the mark.”
Anita Singh, The Telegraph

“In lesser hands this could have been a dry history lecture, starting with the Earl of Bedford’s early vision in the 1630s and ending with the saving of Covent Garden by locals who succeeded in getting 250 buildings listed. But it was a textured, vibrant journey, David Olusoga using virtual production techniques to bring alive what the space would have looked like centuries ago, and including tales of the market workers, the prostitutes, the destitute children, the wealthy, the artists and the actors, one of whom was Nell Gwyn.”
Carol Midgley, The Times

“The programme used ‘immersive technology’ to recreate the Covent Garden of the past, but this turned out to be an underwhelming projection onto a screen. And it was unnecessary, because simply taking us through the history of the place was sufficiently interesting. Olusoga is a Professor of Public History and this documentary demonstrated how skilfully he can put this stuff together.”
Anita Singh, The Telegraph