Mission to Space with Francis Bourgeois; Skyscraper Live; Confessions Of A Killer

“If you can get someone to look at you the way Francis Bourgeois looks at a Mark 3-based electric multiple unit passenger train then you will immediately understand what love is. He is the Gen Z trainspotter whose passion for choo-choos has made him a star of social media and Britain’s favourite quirky broadcaster. In Mission to Space Channel 4 packed him off to the US to undergo various training exercises in a bid to realise his dream of becoming an astronaut. It was adorable. And while he usually spends most of his waking hours with a GoPro fixed to his head filming his face lighting up at the sight and, often more importantly, the sound of locomotives, it is clear that he is not a vain man.”
Ben Dowell, The Times

“Mission to Space with Francis Bourgeois is a tricksy little beast. Unlike, it must be made quite clear, its presenter himself. Bourgeois, for those who have not had the absolute pleasure, is a 25-year-old engineering graduate who came to prominence on social media by making TikTok videos about his great passion: trains. The unforced joy on his face when a locomotive goes by (any locomotive, though his favourite classes are the 37 and 158 and his least favourite the 170), and his ease with his geekiness, quickly made him a star. His other love, we are told, is space. The animating feature of this overgenerously apportioned documentary (two parts of 45 minutes each) is the question: can a trainspotter become an astronaut? The answer, too obviously and from the very start of the film, is no.”
Lucy Mangan, The Guardian

“It is a broadcast that generates lots of social media buzz for Netflix but falls down slightly as entertainment. The constant fear that something might go wrong means viewers are unlikely to glance very long at their phones. Still, there are only so many times you can watch a man in a red T-shirt shimmy up concrete piping before the thrill dulls. Skyscraper Live draws you into a sort of Zen state, where you are both simultaneously riveted and slightly bored.”
Ed Power, Telegraph

“Tomorrow night, ITV airs the true-crime documentary Killer In The House, about the murders of Lesley Howell and Trevor Buchanan - two days after BBC2 began its two-parter dissecting the same case, Confessions Of A Killer. Fortunately for us, the two programmes compliment each other. ITV has interviews with relatives of the victims, while the BBC focuses on audio of dentist Colin Howell’s police interview, in which he admitted to killing his wife and his lover’s husband - and making their deaths look like suicide. And what an extraordinary interview it is.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail