TV Critics: Reggie Yates: Race Riots USA; CSI: Crime Scene Investigation; Body Donors

“This is the famous ground-zero po-lice line-up,” he says, gesturing towards the side of the road as if he’s hosting a Hollywood tour of homes of the rich and famous. Although an impartial observer, Yates isn’t a journalist, and some of his own indignance leaks through as Kinnie talks about the injustice of an unarmed teenager killed when he posed no direct threat to anyone. The point of getting a living, breathing human along to bear witness is, of course, that he brings emotion but Yates can’t seem to decide if he’s supposed to go with the poker face or let rip with his own opinions. So he doesn’t commit to either.”
Julia Raeside, The Guardian

“Yates’s quietly angry documentary was full of such powerful moments… The most resonant moment came when the presenter asked student protester Chester what he wanted from life. ‘What do I want? I want freedom,’ the 18-year-old replied. ‘I want liberation, the chance for my little brother to walk down the street without being stopped or racially profiled. I just want to be free.’”
Sarah Hughes, The Independent

“Unlike CSI at its best, it was not a brilliantly plotted two hours. Other CSI flavours remain available. The original, however, was the ultimate TV ready meal, highly flavoured if low in nourishment. I concede that on our darkest nights we…were lucky to have Gil Grissom.”
Andrew Billen, The Times

“Cheesy, thrilling and with half a dozen plot threads left dangling in the wind, it was CSI at its most ridiculous. As a fan, I relished every cliche-soaked moment.”
Ed Power, The Telegraph

“Two-part documentary Body Donors might not be everyone’s cup of tea. After all, we don’t all wish to be reminded of our mortality and those that do don’t want to see what happens to the remains of folk who’ve given their bodies to medical science. We should be grateful though that there are people who do and who will learn from it. This sensitive and brave bit of programme making follows some of the 700 British people a year who bequeath their remains for research.” 
Matt Baylis, Daily Express

“The only thing wrong with Sarah Allen’s sensitive yet clear-eyed documentary Body Donors was that it was scheduled just before CSI. One minute we were grieving for the corpse of the diver Mike Bowyer. Not soon after, a grisly Hollywood prosthetic was being spuriously prodded for clues… Next week, we shall see their bodies’ after lives. It is not immortality, but it is more than nothing.”
Andrew Billen, The Times