“This soulless series is modern TV drama by rote, a colourless patchwork of join-the-dots drivel that doesn't even attempt to contrive a distinctive voice of its own.” Read on for the critics' full verdict on last night's TV.

Waterloo Road, BBC1
“The school drama that makes Grange Hill look like kindergarten [ ...] This is utterly preposterous as you'd expect from the creators of Footballers' Wives and Bad Girls.”
Sam Wollaston, The Guardian

Waterloo Road, BBC1
“It comes from Shed Productions, the same stable that produced Bad Girls and Footballers' Wives, and so is (it cannot help it) bonkers.”
Tim Teeman, The Times

Waterloo Road, BBC1
“This soulless series is modern TV drama by rote, a colourless patchwork of join-the-dots drivel that doesn't even attempt to contrive a distinctive voice of its own.”
Paul Whitelaw, The Scotsman

Waterloo Road, BBC1
“It's soap and it's a pity, because the subject matter surely deserves something tougher and more direct.”
Tom Sutcliffe, The Independent

Rick Stein's Memoirs of a Seafood Chef, BBC2
“It's basically This Is Your Life, except Rick's doing the MC-ing. This Is My Life, then. And it goes on for 90 minutes! Can you believe it? I think it's possibly the most preposterous piece of television I've ever seen, a bloody great bouillabaisse of self-indulgence.
Sam Wollaston, The Guardian

It's Not Easy Being Green, BBC2
“I quite enjoyed it.”
Tom Sutcliffe, The Independent

Coronation Street, ITV1
“In place of the usual stuff that soap operas offer - surprise, tension, mystery, fun - the Salford saga has very little going on at the moment, except a series of love affairs, each one less probable than the last.”
Matt Baylis, Daily Express

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