“This was a barnstorming arts documentary that paid no lip service to the notion that we need to know about an artist’s technique to understand his work.”
Francis Bacon: A Brush with Violence, BBC2
“This was a barnstorming arts documentary that paid no lip service to the notion that we need to know about an artist’s technique to understand his work. Impeccably sourced from interviews with Bacon’s friends and colleagues and from interviews with the man himself, Richard Curson Smith assembled a savagely intimate biography of a tormented and tormenting man.”
Andrew Billen, The Times
“This is a ton of fun because of the fabulousness of the contributors – not just biographers and critics but drinking mates, neighbours, gallery workers, lovers, wannabe lovers, didnawannabe lovers, doctors, disciples, pop stars, actors, hangers on – and their stories. Insiders from that world with a brilliant way of talking about the extraordinary as if it was quite normal.”
Sam Wollaston, The Guardian
“It assembled a fine array of talking heads and contemporary footage, but didn’t tell me much I didn’t know already. I’d have liked to known more about his working methods and the influences which enabled him to combine the classical figurative tradition with an abstract vividness and savagery in works that still look groundbreaking – and unnerving – 70 years on.”
Jeff Robson, The i
Apple Tree Yard, BBC1
“Emily Watson was wholly convincing, tapping deep emotion as the confident geneticist retreated inwards. She perfectly captured the pain of a character torn between a desire for justice and the fear that pursuing it could tear her family and professional reputation apart.”
Gerard O’Donovan, The Telegraph
“Yvonne, of course, does not report her rape to the police, deciding, as brilliant scientists do, that the logical thing is to send her lover round to scare her assailant. Last week’s episode was nasty. Last night’s: nasty and silly.”
Andrew Billen, The Times
“Apple Tree Yard turns out to be rotten at the core. Like a Golden Delicious blighted by damp and maggots, it had a promising waxy shine on the outside, but is now revealed as a dark, distasteful mess under the skin.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail
Special Forces: Ultimate Hell Week, BBC2
“All the screen graphics, designed to look as if we’re watching through the viewfinder of some kind of weapons system, are a little annoying but Special Forces: Ultimate Hell Week is fun, even if I did feel a bit guilty for enjoying it.”
Sam Wollaston, The Guardian
“The Brit Who Tried To Kill Trump was a film with many questions to ask and little in the way of answers. Being a nice kid, not looking like a killer and a history of psychiatric problems doesn’t often sway US judges. So what was different about Michael?”
Matt Baylis, Daily Express
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