TV Critics: John Bishop's Australia; University Challenge: Class of 2014; Tales from the Royal Wardrobe

“John Bishop is a likable and engaging filter. He also approached each challenge with an endearing mixture of gameness and reluctance. He even managed to do the ‘joining in’ parts of the travelogue with a sense that he was doing more than just posing for a picture.”
Tim Dowling, The Guardian

“John Bishop’s Australia was quite possibly the limpest hour of television I have ever seen. He’s awkward, unfunny and doesn’t put people at ease: in short, he’s the anti-Michael Palin.”
Sameer Rahim, The Telegraph

“The show might have been better if we hadn’t seen so much of Australia on telly this year. It seems a lot of presenters were driven by deep personal compulsions to spend last winter in the Aussie sunshine.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“When Bishop raised £3.4 million for Sport Relief by swimming, cycling and running from Paris to London, that was remarkable. This travelogue, alas, was not. Maybe it’s because celebrity-travelogue fatigue now hangs so strongly in the air.”
Alex Hardy, The Times

“As a set-up for a travel adventure, this was by no means a bad one. Many others look like a jolly for a famous person but this was more soul-searching and serious. It also looked like the very opposite of fun.”
Matt Baylis, Daily Express

“Class of 2014 ran the risk of telling me more than I ever wanted to know about the 50-year-old quiz show, and I love University Challenge. There’s a part two to come, although I can’t think why.”
Tim Dowling, The Guardian

“This documentary amounted to an unabashed trailer for the upcoming edition of the quiz itself. But the obvious cheapness of this programme was a fitting tribute to its subject: University Challenge is, after all, the home of TV’s most unflattering lighting and one of its oldest special effects.”
Iona McLaren, The Telegraph

“As Manchester’s trainer put this year’s team through their paces, it slowly dawned on me that shouting a few correct answers at the TV screen does not qualify you for University Challenge.”
Ellen E Jones, The Independent

“Tales from the Royal Wardrobe was a pleasant enough trot through some famous historical scenes but in truth the programme was pretty light on analysis. Lucy Worsley’s winning personality kept things lively as did her evident relish for the clothes.”
Sameer Rahim, The Telegraph

“There’s nothing Lucy Worsley enjoys more than dressing up — but this time it was sheer indulgence. She looked like a cardboard doll, to be adorned in endless paper dresses with little folding tabs.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“This documentary had the side effect of making me feel less sympathy for the Duchess of Cambridge. Yes, Kate has the pressure of being a clothes horse as well as a future monarch, but her nice wrap dresses seem like a light burden compared to the Elizabethan trend of dressing up like a big-bummed insect.”
Alex Hardy, The Times