“Re-writes girl band history, but it does so with grace and clarity – there are many times Nelson enforces the fact that this is only her perspective”
Jesy Nelson: Life After Little Mix, Amazon
““I feel like my whole life has done a 360,” says Jesy Nelson in the final five minutes of Jesy Nelson: Life After Little Mix (Prime Video), the six-part documentary charting her life since leaving the girl group. Facing the camera with tears welling in her eyes, she explains that her infant twin daughters have been diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA1), a severe muscle-wasting disease. There is no cure for the genetic condition, which means her eight-month-old daughters, Ocean and Story, are unlikely ever to walk. Untreated babies are also unlikely to survive beyond the age of two. But Nelson’s daughters are receiving treatment. So while “grieving the life I thought I was going to have with my children”, Nelson says in a wobbling voice, “I truly believe that my girls will defy all the odds […] and go on to do things that have never been done before.” It is an abrupt, heartbreaking conclusion to a series clearly designed with a happier ending in mind.”
Helen Brown, Telegraph
“If we had known just how serious Nelson’s mental health issues were, if the band – her “sisters” as she calls them – had listened to her concerns, would things have been any different? We’ll never know. And while we have only heard her side of the story in full (Pinnock, Thirlwall and Edwards are notoriously tight-lipped about what really happened), I do wonder if this is the last we hear of the Little Mix mess. If this documentary still doesn’t tell the whole truth, then surely the other band members will want to have their say. Jesy Nelson: Life After Little Mix re-writes girl band history, but it does so with grace and clarity – there are many times Nelson enforces the fact that this is only her perspective. But as she says towards the end of the documentary: “We’re grown women. We’ve got kids. I just think there are so many more important things in life.” I seriously hope the others feel the same way.”
Emily Baker, The i
Becoming Victoria Wood, U&Gold
“There have been many documentaries made about Wood in the decade since she died and, even though the clips are famous and you know the lines are coming, they still never fail to be funny. They are timeless gems of blunt observation distilled into 15 seconds, which, as Ball said, are “rooted in honesty”. Such as the fat-shaming sketch in which she is trying on clothes in a “boutique” and asks: “Do you have this in a size 14?” The shop assistant played by Julie Walters hoots: “What? This is a boootique, not the elephant house.””
Carol Midgley, The Times
“The series boasts remarkable access: Banks, the catwalk coach J Alexander, creative director Jay Manuel, photographer Nigel Barker and executive producer Ken Mok all sit down to interviews, along with dozens of former contestants. It suffers, however, from the usual Netflix issues: it is overlong, unevenly paced and frenetically edited. What could have been a powerful 90-minute film instead spans three hours, yet the zippy, TikTok-y treatment robs it of impact.”
Elle Hunt, The Guardian
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