TV Critics: Champneys; Extant; The Secret Life Of Students

“Not a relaxing experience, and not a great advert for the hotel, but as a way of metaphorically running your finger along Champneys’ sideboard without actually having to go there, it works pretty well.”
Julia Raeside, The Guardian

“Champneys was sleeker than filmmaker Richard Macer’s usual subjects and I felt it struggling to engage him. Still, Macer’s insistent nosiness places him at the top of his trade, as does his eye for the absurd.”
Andrew Billen, The Times

“Every now and then you wondered if owner Stephen Purdew was about to announce he was turning the place into a casino. That at least would have been interesting, unlike what we saw, which mostly involved a team of tight-lipped South Africans and Romanians doing their jobs with chilly efficiency.”
Matt Baylis, Daily Express

“It was brave – some might say foolish – of Purdew to allow the cameras to show his valiant attempts to stop Champneys looking more like Alan Partridge’s Travel Tavern than a five-star hotel. But this film sorely lacked a touch of Champneys’ much-vaunted glamour.”
Ross Jones, The Telegraph

“Champneys chose to film its scenes during the four-month period when owner James Purdew was refurbing his rooms and reforming the staff structure. The production crew attempted to compensate for this luxury shortfall by stirring up some staff tensions but to no avail.”
Ellen E Jones, The Independent

“Macer had an instinct for where the flashpoints were, and lurked outside doors, waiting to pounce. This was not so much fly-on-the-wall as ear-at-the-keyhole.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“Perhaps Extant’s only problem was that, one episode in, it didn’t feel stylistically different to many other sci-fi ventures. That said, with its strong central performances and determined focus on family life, Extant worked as a show about human nature.”
Rebecca Hawkes, The Telegraph

“Extant was slickly watchable but I was left pondering more the strangeness of this glossy show’s indeterminate future in which tablet computers are see-through, cars driverless, dustbins digitised yet folk still wear specs and dress in 2014 fashions.”
Andrew Billen, The Times

“Secret Life didn’t tell us anything new about students. The extreme candour seemed intrusive, but the teens didn’t mind: they regard their personal lives as public property. To the new generation, real life is just an extension of reality TV.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail