TELEVISION / Critical Round-Up

Reviews of Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City (C4 10pm): 'Given flesh and blood by actors of the calibre of Olympia Dukakis, these characters came across even more deliciously than they did on the printed page . . . This lovely show promises to bring back the glory days, on Tuesday evenings at least.' Max Davidson, Daily Telegraph

'It feels like a modern fairy story, light and happy ever after.' Nancy Banks- Smith, Guardian

'After all the advance outrage . . . the result was pleasantly anodyne . . . The art direction is superb . . . In this Aids-conscious age, Channel 4 have carefully played down the glamorising of homosexual as well as heterosexual promiscuity.' Compton Miller, Daily Express

'(It) curdled its slushy way across two hours of screen time . . . This was a highly sentimentalised, yet inescapably sleazy, view of a corrupt and pleasure-seeking San Francisco middle class . . . There was not one appealing, charming, or even likeable character to be found.' Peter Paterson, Daily Mail

'I won't miss out on the delightful series.' Pam Francis, Today

'You know that you are in the realm of soap, however unusually scented and luxuriously wrapped it is.' Thomas Sutcliffe, Independent

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