Michael Palin in Venezuela; Michael Portillo’s 200 Years of the Railways; High Potential; The Morning Show

““I’m 81! I shouldn’t be here. I should be in bed!” yells Michael Palin (now 82), soaked to the skin, as he stands beside Angel Falls in Venezuela. Michael Palin in Venezuela (Channel 5) finds him on his travels again, this time in a country often described as the most dangerous in South America. Episode one covers a lot of serious ground, from political corruption and government surveillance to economic hardship and illegal gold mining – but the joy of watching it is seeing Palin explore new places with the same curiosity, intelligence and gentle humour that he brought to Around the World in 80 Days so many years ago. Simon Reeves has also visited Venezuela for a travel programme, and I’m sure there have been others, but there is something reassuringly old-school about the way Palin conducts himself. Always smartly turned out in a pale blue shirt, and scrupulously polite to his hosts.”
Anita Singh, Telegraph

“On arrival in the South American country, a Lumley or a Chalmers, a Clunes or a Green, would have been straight off to Angel Falls to gasp themselves into a state of delirium. A Grylls would have been off running through the jungle with a big knife. Palin instead wanted to know about the totalitarian nightmare experienced by the residents of Caracas. To tell us how inflation reached 130,000 per cent in 2018 (an economist can explain to me how that works), and to hear from an investigative journalist about how President Maduro allegedly stole last year’s election.”
James Jackson, The Times

“What makes his travelogues so wonderfully watchable is his complete lack of cant. There’s no handwringing over poverty, or guilt about his Western privileges. He takes the world exactly as it is, marvelling at its injustices and enjoying its delights. A comic-book celebrating Venezuela’s narcissistic dictator Nicolas Maduro particularly tickled him. Its title was SuperBigote… which translates as ‘Super Moustache’.
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“I like trains and the history around them as much as the next person, and couldn’t be torn away from Tim Dunn’s The Architecture the Railways Built on Yesterday (all four series available to stream on U and iPlayer). But this dry plod behind a retired politico sucked any joy from its subject and left 200 years of railway history rusting in the sidings.”
Julia Raeside, The i

“Made by ABC in the US, this is slick, narcotic network TV. It’s crowd-pleasing and easy on the eye, the sort of thing you’d traditionally associate more with ITV than BBC Two. Morgan’s new colleagues are uniformly nice, two-dimensional guys: suave detective Karadec (Daniel Sunjata), investigators Daphne and Oz, plus Lt Selena Soto (Scrubs’ Judy Reyes), possibly the most reasonable and least fearsome police chief in cop drama history. No antiheroes, no edge: the vibe is cosy and heartwarming and rather basic.”
Rachel Aroesti, The Guardian

“When The Morning Show premiered in 2019, it was the main attraction of Apple’s new streaming service. It had Hollywood stars in Witherspoon and Aniston and told a #MeToo story that had echoes of the real world. Yes, it was soapy, but it was bold and different to anything else on TV. Since then, it’s gone beyond parody.”
Emily Baker, The i