“There was a certain hysterical undertone.” Read on for the verdict on last night’s TV.
The Human Zoo: Science’s Dirty Secret
“The story of these ‘zoos’ and of Ota Benga… would have been enough to make a fascinating documentary. But the director Srik Narayanan chose instead to make a distinguished one by showing how hard it is… to thank straight about the issue of race.”
Andrew Billen, The Times
“This programme didn’t make you feel very proud to be human but at the same time, there was a certain hysterical undertone… It’s hard to say it in the soundbite-friendly, simplified world of a TV documentary but the blame doesn’t lie with science, or with this or that man, it’s with the whole of humanity.”
Matt Baylis, Daily Express
Garrow’s Law: Tales from the Old Bailey, BBC1
“The trailers have made the show look ludicrous, but Tony Marchane’s drama carries the weight of historical authority and even allows its characters to speak in some approximation of the speech of the time.”
Andrew Billen, The Times
“The problem with all legal dramas – ancient and modern – is the amount of explanation they need to help us understand the plots.”
Matt Baylis, Daily Express
“It’s all here – evil villains, filthy taverns, mugs of ale, murky alleys, the dark depths of Newgate prison, flickering oil lamps. And the courtroom. No other room – not even the bedroom – can compete with a court for excitement, tension, passion, humour. And drama. A massive improvement on Emma, then.”
Sam Wollaston, The Guardian
“It’s hard these days to watch these kinds of BBC period drams without expecting the scene to halt mid-monologue and then from the camera to zoom out and reveal Ricky Gervais wrestling with a sticky doughnut.”
Rob Sharp, The Independent
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