From Mrs Brown’s Boys to A Very British Scandal: What the critics said about Christmas TV

Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter for all the latest entertainment news and reviews Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Christmas once again proved to be a major season for new TV, with critics sharing their thoughts on everything from A Very British Scandal to Mrs Brown’s Boys. open image in gallery Paul Bettany and Sophie Ward in ‘A Very British Scandal' In a three-star review in The Times, Carol Midgley said that while the opening episode was slow, things promised to get “frightfully dirty” in the rest of the four-part series, adding: “Overall I think this is a four-star series which gets better with each episode.” Another of Boxing Day’s biggest shows was the new BBC adaptation of Around the World in 80 Days, with The Guardian’s Rebecca Nicholson comparing David Tennant’s Phileas Fogg to “a Victorian Jeff Bezos”. Plan auto-renews until cancelled Try for free The Independent’s Cumming was less convinced by the first episode, writing in a two-star review: “The idea is to introduce a subplot about racism and social justice, but the long action sequences come at the expense of any meaningful character development, especially among the leads.” David Tennant stars in Around the World in 80 Days trailer However, Joe Clay wrote in The Times that the show eventually picked up pace after a slow start. In The Irish Times, Ed Power said that Mrs Brown’s Boys was “super-charged marmite television”, but praised the show for its earnest speech about the importance of getting vaccinated against Covid-19.