The Sixth Commandment; University Challenge; Earth

“Altogether it is as fine a piece of television as you will ever see. Clearly intensely researched and forged with love and respect, it also stands – and I hope their friends and families agree – as an equally fine memorial to Peter Farquhar and Ann Moore-Martin, in all their unsullied goodness.”
Lucy Mangan, The Guardian

“Timothy Spall’s performance as Farquhar in The Sixth Commandment is so intimate and tender that it felt like we were sitting beside Farquhar on a Dralon sofa in his dated semi. Spall captured perfectly the lonely essence of a quiet boffin whose intellectual life was vast and full, but whose love life was non-existent. Heartbreaking, compelling drama.”
Carol Midgley, The Times

“As it retraces Ben Field’s wrongdoing and the ensuing police investigation, the series is horrifying – but also mesmerisingly watchable. That is largely thanks to three commanding performances: Timothy Spall as the intellectual yet unworldly Farquhar, Anne Reid as lonely and vulnerable pensioner Moore-Martin and Éanna Hardwicke as Field.”
Ed Power, The Telegraph

“Made with the full consent of their families, The Sixth Commandment was respectful of the victims. Most impressive was the lack of dark glamour, a disturbing trap so many true-crime dramas fall into. These true-crime dramas may be 10-a-penny nowadays, but this was a well cast, unexploitative and yet chilling addition to the genre.”
Gerard Gilbert, The i

“The Sixth Commandment may be dedicated to Peter and Ann, but their loneliness is merely a prop to gawp at this perverse manifestation of pure evil. Gripping, sure, but not sensitive. And The Sixth Commandment aspires to sensitivity. Spall and Reid both give performances that beg the mercy of viewers, if not their captor. But Ben looms over events, immoral and unknowable. It has a gravitational effect, pulling the drama out of orbit.”
Nick Hilton, The Independent

“When someone is picked at the highest level, armchair selectors may have doubts about a technical aspect of the newcomer’s game – in this case, his high pace but intermittent low accuracy of delivery. In this respect, Rajan seemed to have been practising hard. The presenter was well down on the speed-gun from his morning radio broadcasting, and up in precision. This slower, crisper vocal makeover made him sound strikingly like Paxman.”
Mark Lawson, The Guardian

“If jealous colleagues were hoping to see the Radio 4 Today presenter fall on his face in his new plum job they will have been disappointed. It was a cracking episode. True, he looked smaller in the big black chair than Paxman did, and he didn’t command the same vaguely terrifying demeanour. But in a smart suit, orange tie and matching silk pocket square Rajan set his own tone.”
Carol Midgley, The Times

“He is a brasher presence than Jeremy Paxman – the bright tie and pocket square, the shiny gold watch and jewellery – and, unsurprisingly, didn’t look remotely over-awed by the job. But he didn’t over-egg it either. Besides, the format doesn’t allow any presenter to impose themselves too greatly, because they can’t do very much other than ask questions.”
Anita Singh, The Telegraph

“Amol was cheerful, and patient, and full of praise. When the players, from Manchester and Trinity Cambridge, fluffed a question, he didn’t scold. And when he had to dock one team five points, he sounded genuinely regretful.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“It’s traditional to feel a little fear when change befalls a safe and comfortable programme. But Rajan’s arrival felt seamless, and so, really, nothing has changed. His University Challenge remains a show that’s near-impossible to take part in, but feels curiously nourishing just to sit back and watch, often in incomprehension, mostly in awe.”
Nick Duerden, The i

“Wisely, Rajan’s not sought to impersonate either of his much-loved predecessors. He contents himself with a few ‘c’mon’s and the odd ‘impressive’, and exercises a light, quiz-masterly touch throughout. He may be the star of the show, but he knows it’s not his show. Well, not yet.”
Sean O’Grady, The Independent

“This biography of our planet, beginning 252 million years ago with the worst ever mass extinction event, when 90 per cent of species died, was spectacular. Chris Packham may not have Attenborough’s experience, but he makes a passionate and knowledgeable frontman.”
Carol Midgley, The Times

“All genuinely interesting stuff, but Packham’s doom-laden script laid it on so thick that by the time he was talking about sulphurous tides bringing the smell of rotten eggs to the barren shores of a ravaged land, I was rather hoping for the sweet embrace of death myself.”
Anita Singh, The Telegraph

“A lot of the hour was heavy statistical stuff. Chris was better on a small scale, inspecting a lizard-like fossil and showing how its large eye sockets might indicate it was nocturnal. And his joy at watching dolphins feeding off the coast of the Canary Islands was charming.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail