TV Critics: The Fall; Playhouse Presents: Marked

“The portrayal of men in The Fall was pretty consistently bleak: wife beaters, adulterers, inadequate; foot soldiers at best in the hunt for Spector. The Fall challenged us, daring us either to be turned on by it sexually or off it politically. If it was not a perfect mirror to life, then it was a Rorschach test brilliantly painted in blood.”
Andrew Billen, The Times

“So when, in one extraordinary sequence, we the viewers were challenged about our fascination with this pretty-boy psychopath, it wasn’t entirely unexpected. Gibson delivered the line looking into the camera, as though addressing us directly. Was it the “people who like to read and watch programmes people like [Spector]” who should be asking themselves questions? Touché, Cubitt, touché.”
Ellen E Jones, The Independent

“I ignored the strained creaks and groans almost to the bitter end, but in the 90-minute finale the whole thing buckled and imploded. What a waste of some fine actors, fine performances and a whole lot of audience patience. As time wore on it became impossible to avoid the sense that all the performances were writing cheques the script couldn’t cash”
Lucy Mangan, The Guardian

“Despite its flaws, this climax unfolded in riveting fashion. Another taut BBC drama, The Missing, concluded disappointingly this week and this was far more successful. The painstaking procedural elements were confidently compelling and the performances uniformly classy. Assuming he’s dead by the third series, which Gillian Anderson has hinted is in the pipeline, Dornan will be tough to replace. Vacancy for an unsettlingly sexy psychopath: apply here.”
Michael Hogan, The Telegraph

“Kiefer Sutherland played Jim, a man whose pre-christmas financial situation was so dire he agreed to take on a contract killing. Stephen Fry was the Santa Claus/ social worker who talked him down. Imagine It’s a Wonderful Life, the Sainsbury’s advert version and you’re not far off”
Ellen E Jones, The Independent

“As long as you believe that Christrmas is a time for giving benefits of the doubt and not asking for much back in the way of sense or satisfying resolutions, it was fine. A slightly crumbly mince pie of a thing. A stocking filler. Fine.”
Lucy Mangan, The Guardian