Paul Hollywood Eats Mexico; The Girl from Plainville; Trom

“The show was a fun snapshot of Mexico City and gave viewers a couple of tips on places to visit, from a garage that transforms into a taqueria at lunchtime, to a picturesque network of canals at Xochimilco, built by the Aztecs and now a World Heritage Site. On The Great British Bake Off, Hollywood is head honcho with the power to make or break a contestant’s fledgling career; here, he’s at the mercy of locals and mischievous producers, which is where the entertainment lies. He approaches every challenge with good humour.”
Anita Singh, The Telegraph

“His latest trip was just as beguiling as the last. And that wasn’t necessarily because of the host or even the food. It was because of the place. Mexico City elbowed our man aside and burst into life. A city of more than 20 million people (and half a million food outlets) couldn’t help being loud and interesting and Hollywood wisely let his subject take the spotlight.”
Ben Dowell, The Times

“He’s not a TV presenter, he’s a bar-room bore. After each adventure in Mexico City, he delivered a pre-written summary to camera. Without his script, he was helpless.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“The script rarely goes below the surface. This story encompasses so much about modern mores, such as how we construct identities and the unique pressures on teens. But it also features timeless concerns, including the innocence of youth, its insecurities and the traps that sets. It needed a multilayered, evocative script that could give us more than screaming rows with parents, hard-nosed exchanges between ambitious lawyers set on creating a landmark case, and eating disorders reduced to secret chocolate-cake binges.”
Lucy Mangan, The Guardian

“While this exploration does deepen our understanding of the two protagonists, it fails to offer any answers. Because how can there be any? Carter’s true motivation is known only to her. We will never know if Roy would have ended up killing himself at some point regardless of Carter’s involvement. It is just a terribly sad story.”
Anita Singh, The Telegraph

“While the empathetic series doesn’t go so far as to extend Carter forgiveness for the awful crime of which she was eventually convicted, it does offer a modicum of understanding as to how and why this adolescent tragedy unfolded. At the heart of that achievement is Elle Fanning’s nuanced portrayal of Carter herself.”
Kevin EG Perry, The Independent

“This is the sort of ominous political crime thriller that’s best in Danish with subtitles, where the female detectives don inch-thick knitwear and minor characters career off the road after their cars are sabotaged.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail