15 July ‘09

Freefall, BBC2
“In last night’s Freefall, Savage took on the credit crunch. Once again, his heartfelt approach was on full display – but so was its most obvious downside: a complete lack of subtlety.”
James Walton, The Daily Telegraph

Freefall, BBC2
“It was [writer] Dominic Savage’s actors, allowed to improvise from encounters with real bankers and their dupes and to interact with non-actors (such as the estate agent and the man from the mortgage company demanding Jim’s repayments) who made each interior throb. Achieving a naturalism now rare on television, they elevated Freefall into this year’s signature drama.”
Andrew Billen, The Times

Freefall, BBC2
“Roll on better times – at least so the dramas improve.”
Matt Baylis, Daily Express

Freefall, BBC2
“Those who invested their time got a pretty decent return on it.”
Tom Sutcliffe, The Independent

Freefall, BBC2
“It works so well for two reasons: fine acting and fine writing. There are great performances wherever you look.”
Sam Wollaston, The Guardian

How to Be Old, BBC4
“How To Be Old, showed that Nigel Planer and his writer/director Christopher Douglas have lost none of their enthusiasm for pricking the pretensions of actors who regard their profession with a preposterous level of seriousness.”
Paul Whitelaw, The Scotsman

How to Be Old, BBC4
“An actor (Planer) pretending to be an old actor presenting a load of clips of more actors pretending to be old. For an hour. Talk about bilge.”
Matt Baylis, Daily Express

How to Be Old, BBC4
“An hour was a long time to sustain the joke – though many of the jokes you got were pretty good – and the implicit satire on the predictable way in which old age is depicted on screen certainly struck home.”
Tom Sutcliffe, The Independent

Coast, BBC2
“Yesterday’s programme was largely business as usual.”
James Walton, The Daily Telegraph