Last Seen; Mr T: I Pity the Fool; Emergency 24/7

“At first I was expecting this to play out a bit like an Aussie-noir version of last year’s Yosemite-set series Untamed but there are soon other distinctive players in this story, each their own character study. Unexpectedly, Bolton’s finest — Maxine Peake — shows up in a role that becomes increasingly pivotal as we’re introduced to the dynamics of a reclusive family in the woods (which is about all I can say for fear of spoilers). Peake, as Jenna, and Brendan Cowell, who plays her brooding, rustic husband, Henry, are terrific. And when, at the end of episode two, Ridley receives an emergency call that turns his world on its head, it shifts the slow-burn momentum up a gear, the path set inexorably towards a showdown. Lately I’ve been running out of Aussie slang to describe the, er, bonzer TV shows arriving from our neighbouring hemisphere (from The Twelve on ITVX to My Brilliant Career on Netflix and Dalliance on Paramount+), but if Last Seen is about as cheerful as Wallander with a hangover, it really is gripping too: a study in parental protective instincts twisted out of shape. So fair dinkum.”
James Jackson, The Times

“As the first Apple TV series made entirely in Australia – it was filmed in Victoria, where it is set – Last Seen has the aesthetic polish we’ve come to expect from the streaming platform: a high-end, prestige drama gloss. This kind of sheen can sometimes leave their shows feeling a little homogenised, but here it works a treat, thanks to the sharp eye of Bonnie Elliott, who is one of Australia’s most accomplished cinematographers (my favourite work of hers includes Spear, These Final Hours, and Undertow). But as good as it looks, it’s the people and plots in Last Seen that will stick in your head. It doesn’t just pile on the twists; it makes the twists really matter, because we always understand, with painful clarity, the emotional consequences for the people experiencing them. This is riveting television, and one of the standout shows of the year.”
Luke Buckmaster, The Guardian

“Despite its subject’s objections, I Pity the Fool is an affectionate portrayal. And for all the bluster and bizarreness, the modern-day Mr T cuts an endearing figure. He explains how a battle with blood cancer in the 1990s led him to refocus on working more with the church and community. And it would take a Clubber Lang-like heart of stone to not be touched by the scene of him meeting a disabled fan. Perhaps the biggest surprise is Mr T – one of the definitive Eighties musclemen – coming out as an ambassador for modern masculinity. “I pity the man who don’t cry and let it out,” says Mr T. “That’s a fool. That’s a fool.””
Tom Fordy, Telegraph

“It is certainly a small, slight documentary. In a 50-minute runtime, some omissions are to be expected, but even without knowing about its subject’s resulting displeasure, the emphasis on the violent incident reads oddly and the misspelling of his name raises questions about the quality of the research. There is a sense of eagerness with which the picture of Mr T as a monstrous egomaniac is painted. At best, it feels like a rushed job. At worst, it feels like the imposition of another negative narrative on a Black man by fools who are more to be censured than pitied.”
Lucy Mangan, The Guardian

“Almost the only thing missing was the bomb scare. On Saturday, Casualty’s 40th anniversary double bill opened with a panoramic shot of Clifton Suspension Bridge, before swooping to the hospital. Emergency 24/7 used exactly the same device, except this time the hospital was Bristol’s main A&E unit, Southmead. Like Casualty, which was an unusually gory episode, it featured lashings of blood, including a leg injury so gruesome that I had to screw up both eyes and open one just enough to see the screen. To be strictly accurate, a bomb scare wasn’t the only bit of drama that separated Casualty’s hyperventilating fiction from the real–life version. The paramedics of Emergency 24/7 also didn’t have to escape from a submerged ambulance after plunging over a cliff.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail