TV critics' verdict on programmes - including Stephen Poliakoff’s new drama Capturing Mary - broadcast on 12 November 2007

Capturing Mary, BBC2
“The recent spate of Stephen Poliakoff plays ended with Capturing Mary, and I’ll admit to a puff of relief that it’s over.”
Robert Hanks, The Independent

Capturing Mary, BBC2
“It made for weirdly compelling drama.”
Kevin Maher, The Times

Capturing Mary, BBC2
“Capturing Mary was more ambitious than Joe’s Palace. Bigger, grander, starrier [ -] And yet it was less satisfying.”
Sam Wollaston, The Guardian

Capturing Mary, BBC2
“Afterwards you were certainly left with plenty of images to savour, and ideas to ponder.”
James Walton, Daily Telegraph

Heroes & Villains: Napoleon, BBC1
“Not since the last episode of Hornblower can any TV drama have served up so much old-fashioned swash-buckling with such a straight face.”
James Walton, Daily Telegraph

Heroes and Villains: Napoleon, BBC1
“A kind of moron’s guide to history that served no other purpose than to turn viewers even farther away from books and to re-inscribe historical narratives within hoary visual clichés.”
Kevin Maher, The Times

Heroes and Villains: Napoleon, BBC1
“Stuffed with the kind of detail only a military historian could get excited about, the end result for most viewers was a baffling parade of cannon fire, gushing wounds and shouting.”
Matt Baylis, Daily Express

Heroes and Villains: Napoleon, BBC1
“Rob Brydon, as the chilly commissar, was pretty much flawless.”
Robert Hanks, The Independent

Forgotten Heroes: The Not Dead, C4
“Moving, shaming and inspiring.”
Robert Hanks, The Independent

Forgotten Heroes: The Not Dead, C4
“Wonderful.”
Sam Wollaston, The Guardian

The Cannibal That Walked Free, Five
“Unintentional comedy, exploitation telly and disquieting documentary somehow collided to produce The Cannibal That Walked Free.”
Kevin Maher, The Times

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