'Personal, enjoyable, discursive and, at an hour and a half, sprawling.' Read on for the critics' full verdict on last night's TV.

Portillo on Thatcher: The Lady's Not for Spurning, BBC4
“The Lady's Not for Spurning contained plenty of shrewd insight into the collapse of the Tories after Thatcher.”
Brian Viner, The Independent

Portillo on Thatcher: The Lady's Not for Spurning, BBC4
“Personal, enjoyable, discursive and, at an hour and a half, sprawling.”
Nancy Banks-Smith, The Guardian

Portillo on Thatcher: The Lady's Not for Spurning, BBC4
“Portillo failed to convince as a historian.”
Kevin Maher, The Times

Life in Cold Blood, BBC1
“Life in Cold Blood gets harder by the week to tear your eyes from.”
Brian Viner, The Independent

Life in Cold Blood, BBC1
“National treasure doesn't begin to describe him [David Attenborough].”
Simon Edge, Daily Express

The Real Knights of the Round Table: A Time Team Special, C4
“Another attempt by the ever-amiable Tony Robinson to sex up the discovery of small brown rocks and flooring fragments.”
Kevin Maher, The Times

Skins, E4
“Actually hit some semi-serene heights last night, with moments of understated authenticity amid the outré teen antics.”
Kevin Maher, The Times

The Palace, ITV1
“This watchable series has been compared to Footballers' Wives in that it takes a world we're all curious about and sensationalises it into glorious schlock.”
Simon Edge, Daily Express

Transsexual in Iran, BBC2
“The result was a documentary that was both eye-opening and, for much of the time, extremely sad.”
James Walton, Daily Telegraph

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