“Their words have power, because their feelings – anger, pride, heartbreak – remain so strong”
“Surprising, affecting details are everywhere, starting with the section on what was lost when the miners ultimately failed to win their fight. Faces that will later cloud over with anger are bright and proud as they recall the old mining villages, built around comradeship and a shared investment in dirty, dangerous, important work. One miner recounts how in the showers after another hard day in the filthy pit, it was common for workers to wash the back of a random colleague, without being asked.”
Jack Seale, The Guardian
“A Frontline Story relies on the accounts of miners from both sides of the divide, along with the women involved, plus contributions from officers who policed the strikes. Their words have power, because their feelings – anger, pride, heartbreak – remain so strong. There are the two brothers, one who went back to work and one who stayed out on strike, whose relationship has never recovered. The man still mentally scarred by the experience of being beaten so hard by a police officer that the truncheon broke in two (an attack captured on camera). The woman who ran a soup kitchen using whatever meat could be found and would tell people: “You might find some teeth in it. Don’t swallow them. And don’t complain. It’s a dinner.””
Anita Singh, Telegraph
Into the Congo with Ben Fogle, Channel 5
“Ben was heading Into The Congo to stay with a tribe of hunter-gatherers, the Mbendjele. The welcome he received was extraordinary. Someone evidently tipped off the Mbendjele that Ben was coming, because they met him on the rainforest path with songs and dancing that built in a deafening crescendo until, arriving at the village, he was overwhelmed by people in grass skirts beating drums and falling about with laughter. Ben found the sheer joy of it so moving that he burst into tears. He was less joyful 12 hours later when the cacophony was still going on.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail
“I am so tired of seeing celebrity presenters go through the motions on travel shows – visiting all the obvious places, most likely retreating to a comfortable hotel when the cameras stop rolling each day – that it made a refreshing change to see Fogle exploring a little-known (in TV terms) part of the world and introducing us to people whose way of life is so far removed from our own.”
Anita Singh, Telegraph
“Both celebs, tackling an extreme motoring challenge for the first time, blurted four-letter words in such inventive combinations, they’d make a navvy blush. In a bid to ensure at least some parts of the show were suitable for broadcast before the watershed, they installed a bucket as a swearbox… and filled it four times over.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail
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