We Were Liars; The Contestant; Trainwreck

“Don’t expect groundbreaking drama – We Were Liars is far from a teen Big Little Lies. But if you want to enjoy some rich mansion property porn, something pulpy to switch your brain off to, and a juicy little mystery, then We Were Liars may just be the perfect summer watch.”
Tilly Pearce, The i

“It’s an homage to Tom Cruise in Risky Business, and an unfortunate reminder that dramas aimed at teenagers were once fun but are now a humour-free zone. Risky Business, The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink, Footloose – in the 1980s, all of these took seriously the business of being young and overwhelmed by feelings, but they also made you laugh. We Were Liars, on the other hand, is a po-faced thriller about characters who are privileged and bland, soundtracked by the kind of acoustic dirges that used to blight John Lewis Christmas adverts.”
Anita Singh, The Telegraph

“Clair Titley’s thoughtful, troubling film took us back to the mad world of 1990s Tokyo TV, except this time you won’t have laughed once unless you really are a sadist. Duty of care in reality TV has clearly come a long way, although the uneasy balance between emotional damage and drive for good ratings remains universal.”
James Jackson, The Times

“Producer Toshio Tsuchiya, a man who gleefully compares himself to Satan and revels in the fear and hatred he inspires in everyone who works for him, smirked as he described how in 1997 he created a format so cruel, it must surely be outlawed by the Geneva Convention. Tsuchiya claimed this was a momentous episode in TV history. I was left, not for the first time, wondering at the depravities of the small screen.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“Trainwreck: Mayor of Mayhem manages to squash the chaos of the late Rob Ford’s many scandals into an appropriately hectic 49 minutes of documentary. This is jaw-dropping, and provocative, and a reminder of how certain parts of the western world got to where we are.”
Rebecca Nicholson, The Guardian