His Dark Materials: Season 2

"The action is picking up, the scope of the universes is expanding, and the stakes are becoming clearer ... With luck, this show just might find its soul yet."

"For avid Pullman fans, the series might be a treat. The problem for the rest of us is that it lacks both the novelty of series one and the exciting narrative - it now feels very dense, which works well in a novel but less so in a TV series."

"His Dark Materials looks great, it’s robustly made, and there are great actors everywhere, occupying well-built universes. But it doesn’t doesn’t inspire as much wonder as it ought to."

"Amir Wilson is good as Will Parry, who comes from Earth's Oxford, and Dafne Keen has barely put a foot wrong as Lyra, who comes from the "alternative" Oxford, but I'm less engaged when minors carry the bulk of the episode. It doesn't help that Lyra's daemon, Pan, sounds like the schoolboy from the Milkybar advert. ... Give it time to blossom."

"Jack Thorne, one of my favourite TV writers (The Fades, currently on BBC iPlayer, is worth your time), revels in punching up Coulter as a combination of Iago and Lady Macbeth with a hint, at her most pantomimic, of Cruella de Vil. In Thorne’s hands, you never know what she might do next."