Hang Ups; Paul O’Grady’s Little Heroes; M1: The Road That Made Britain

Hang Ups, featuring Stephen Mangan as a shrink in crisis, takes the therapy comedy into its most disorderly terrain yet. So far it is half-excellent, half-nervous breakdown.
James Jackson, The Times

You’re never short of gags or innuendo where therapy is concerned and when you combine that with a chaotic household of teenagers and a main man clearly bluffing his way out of one nightmare into the next, you ought to have comedy dynamite. I didn’t sense anything fizzing last night though let alone any bangs but maybe, like therapy, it takes time.
Matt Baylis, Daily Express

The experience of watching it is many country miles away from the slowburn rhythms of actual psychotherapy. I should imagine that practitioners (such as the one with whom I cohabit) will roll eyeballs at its flagrant liberty-taking. But taken with a pinch of salt, Hang Ups is a ribald skewering of the talking cure that’s almost too much of a tasty treat.
Jasper Rees, Daily Telegraph

What it does share with Phoebe from Friends’ show is improvisation in the online sessions themselves, from a starry cast of patients. And that’s where Hang Ups really hits the sweet spot.
Sam Wollaston, The Guardian

It’s possible to get this kind of comedy right. The brilliant Catastrophe, with Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney, has proved that. But so far, Hang Ups has just left us dangling.
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

Only part-scripted, the improvisation makes for real and convincing dialogue – even if the neuroses and issues here are so wildly off-the-wall.
Elisa Bray, The i

Paul O’Grady’s irreverence was the perfect antidote. If laughter is the best medicine, his antics ought to be available on prescription.
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

A life-affirming lesson in perspective. And as an advertisement for the positive side of what the NHS does every day, it is effective, too.
Elisa Bray, The i

The most eye-opening fact was that the AA used to warn of obstructions up ahead by lighting rags and throwing them across the road. Road safety meets the Molotov cocktail.
Jasper Rees, Daily Telegraph