Critical Condition: The Replacement

The Replacement | TVNZ 1, 8.30 Sunday

➢ “You’re pregnant? Congratulations. So your work will have to get in cover. And the person doing the covering may well try to steal your life. Don’t you hate it when that happens? I’ve not done the pregnant part, but I have worried about being superfluous after even a couple of weeks off, so I can imagine what it is like for maternity leave. A seam of that fear is what The Replacement (BBC1) taps into, and then mines and mines, until there’s a dirty great slagheap of it … It’s a joyously bonkers, highly psychological melodrama that starts with a foot in reality and then runs wild. It’s ridiculously addictive, though.” — The Guardian.

➢ “This is the juiciest melodrama since Doctor Foster.” — The Times.

➢ “There’s nothing quite like an emotion-shredding potboiler to get the blood up … and The Replacement proved just the ticket … Its fiendishly engaging premise will no doubt be the subject of many a water-cooler conversation, and with another two episodes to go, it still has the potential to raise its game.” — The Telegraph.

➢ “It’s all hugely enjoyable tosh, a cross between The Hand That Rocks The Cradle and Single white Female.” — Daily Express.

➢ “You might think a psychological thriller about going on maternity leave isn’t the most exciting proposition. Oh, how wrong you would be. This new Glasgow-set drama takes the often difficult subject of balancing a hard fought career with having children, and spins it into a tense and highly watchable portrait of paranoia.” — The i.