TV critics' verdict on programmes, including the C4 documentary Make Me a Muslim, broadcast between the 14 December and the 16 December 2007.

Make Me a Muslim, C4
 “It is possible for a documentary to combine serious content with a light style. Unfortunately, in Make Me a Muslim these elements too often appear to be pulling in opposite directions - with sometimes uncomfortable results.”
James Walton, The Daily Telegraph

Make Me a Muslim, C4
 “As a cheerful infidel, I started watching with the assumption that, like other religions, it’s just an attempt to stuff existential cracks with fantastical wadding. I ended up thinking, ‘It’s lasted 1,400 years - it can’t be as silly as it appears here.’”
Thomas Sutcliffe, The Independent

Make Me a Muslim, C4
“For an example of telly better left unmade, let me introduce you to Make Me a Muslim which, after last night’s brain dead opener, continues tonight on Channel 4.”
Andrew Billen, The Times

Make Me a Muslim, Channel 4
 “Islam was reduced to a series of irksome rules - not because of any agenda, of course, the programme was much too superficial for that - but because it makes for good entertainment.”
Matt Baylis, Daily Express

Cranford, BBC1
“In its last episode, would Cranford finally put a foot wrong? The answer, inevitably, was no. Once again, the programme managed to be full of incident without ever seeming rushed. Once again too, the best TV cast in living memory used all their talents to serve the material rather than (as has been known when famous names gather) to show off.”
James Walton, The Daily Telegraph

Cranford, BBC1
 “With both Cranford and Christmas pudding, it’s possible to have too much of a good thing. A certain amount of loose-end-tying-up was always going to be necessary in the final episode. But - as the haughty Mrs Jamieson might have said - really!”
Matt Baylis, Daily Express

Spielberg on Spielberg, TCM
“One of 2007’s most riveting TV documentaries.”
Mark Monahan, The Daily Telegraph

The X Factor Final, ITV1
 “Last year Leona Lewis genuinely had something, something that may even endure. Not so this year; these finalists have the collective X-factor of Y, the star quality of a black hole. Only a bit of bitchiness by the judges has just about kept the thing alive, after the initial freak-show fun.”
Sam Wollaston, The Guardian

Addicted to Porn, C4
“The question remained: does porn create the perversion or does perversion create the demand for the porn? But by the end of Peter Higgins’s worthwhile film [ -] I no longer presumed to think I knew the answer.”
Andrew Billen, The times

Topics