Secret Garden; Untold: Chess Mates

“Attenborough explained that Henry and Sarah, the couple who live in the mill house, let much of their land run wild to accommodate the wildlife. No artificial turf here. This is an Eden, though during very heavy rains as much as two thirds of it can disappear under water. The camera crew had to sit shivering in tents pitched in the actual river to get their footage but how spectacular it was. Critics run out of superlatives for this kind of stuff. A kingfisher hitting the water at 25mph and bringing out a fish was outstanding. As was the moment when the one-day-old ducklings dropped from a great height to get to the river, and vole pups, like pink, hairless Jelly Babies, were protected by their mother from a prowling grass snake.”
Carol Midgeley, The Times

“Attenborough devotees, and I’m proud to be one, will remember the breathtaking opening of his 2014 series Life Story, in which barnacle goose chicks threw themselves down a sheer cliff. It turns out that mallard chicks, hatched in the fork of a tree, have to do much the same thing… though they fall only a couple of feet. English gardens can be as wild as anywhere in the world. It’s all just on a smaller scale.”
Christopher Stevens, The Daily Mail

“Ultimately, this remains a case of “he said, he said”, and Untold: Chess Mates scarcely finds anything new to say about it all. At the end of the documentary, [Hans] Niemann and [Magnus] Carlsen face off once more, in a game that took place a year and a half ago. It seems strange to end things here, way back in 2024, but really this is a drama that has long faded from the headlines. The viral story and those extraordinary allegations will live on, of course. Or, as Allebest puts it: “Anal beads have been super good to us.”
Hannah J Davies, The Guardian