Paula; The Last of Us

“Nobody under the age of 35 will have watched Paula with anything more than mild interest. For the rest of us, though, who remember Yates blazing a trail through the 1980s and 1990s, it was a celebration of one of television’s great presenters.”
Anita Singh, The Telegraph

“The documentary is part of 40th anniversary output, but the peg on which it is hung – the airing of never-before-heard interviews she gave in the two years before she died with the (now) former editor of the Sunday Express and OK! magazine, Martin Townsend – means a slightly grubby pall is cast over proceedings as they begin. What follows, however, is largely a glorious celebration of her overflowing talent.”
Lucy Mangan, The Guardian

“These interviews had never been broadcast before and it was heartbreaking to hear this woman, emotionally and physically broken, explaining how time wasn’t healing her grief; in fact it was getting worse. But it was a textured and honest tribute that she would no doubt have appreciated.”
Carol Midgely, The Times

“Having an actress in a peroxide wig lip-synch to the words on cassette was a mistake: the audio was powerful enough on its own. What is shockingly obvious, two decades later, is how cruelly she was treated during the laddish 1990s.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“The original The Last of Us on the PlayStation had one of the most morally ambivalent conclusions in the history of video games. I recall finishing it and setting my controller down in shock, unsure whether to cry or scream. That devastating ambiguity was preserved as HBO’s adaptation of the dystopian tale thundered to a searing finale.”
Ed Power, The Telegraph

“The best thing about this series hasn’t been the action or the violence, although some of it has been superbly realised (how most TV producers would kill for HBO’s budgets). No, this show has soared with its human interactions, especially the two-handers that explore the unimaginable stresses the pandemic has put people under.”
Ben Dowell, The Times