Gerard O'Donovan
- Journalist and reviewer
Press clippings
Dead Ringers is satire's great saviour - our politicians should be worried
The comedy sketch show is back, in rip-roaring form, just when the public needs it most.
Gerard O'Donovan, The Telegraph, 22nd June 2022Review: The Midnight Gang
A joyous children vs adults, nice vs horrible romp.
Gerard O'Donovan, The Telegraph, 26th December 2018Generation Game on a Sunday night? That's sacrilege!
In terms of what we should expect from prime time Easter television, this fell well short of the mark. And it focuses the mind on what we should be saying to those responsible for entertainment at the BBC: stop trying to revisit the past. Go away and think up some original ideas.
Gerard O'Donovan, The Telegraph, 1st April 2018Mum makes the mother of all returns
Poignant is a word that doesn't get used much these days, but it fits Mum (BBC Two) like a glove. In this spare, quiet sitcom, deep emotions aren't so much plumbed as plucked at in a piquant, reserved, achingly sympathetic way.
Gerard O'Donovan, The Telegraph, 20th February 2018Bad Move showed every sign of having all-too-apt title
Based on this first episode alone, it was hard not to worry that for Dee, Bad Move was showing every sign of having an all-too-apt title.
Gerard O'Donovan, The Telegraph, 20th September 2017Catastrophe shows no sign of getting any less funny
But the real darkness came in Rob's steady character shift from sweet, easy-going goof to miserable control freak as, out of work and back on the bottle, his frustrations focused in on the possibility of Sharon's disloyalty. His alcoholism has sat like an unexploded bomb beneath the surface of this sitcom until now; the question that seems bound to dominate is whether it will detonate fully and take out the relationship completely.
Gerard O'Donovan, The Telegraph, 28th February 2017Vicious review
ITV's Vicious came to an end but not even Ian McKellen and Derek Jacobi could send it off on a high.
Gerard O'Donovan, The Telegraph, 16th December 2016Walliams & Friend review
Walliams & Friend was a reminder of how good Harry Enfield's Nineties sketch shows were.
Gerard O'Donovan, The Telegraph, 2nd December 2016Murder in Successville, review
The show's format has the potential to get stale quite quickly. But it still feels like it's at the sharper end of comedy's cutting edge.
Gerard O'Donovan, The Telegraph, 16th June 2016An Immigrant's Guide to Britain: review
None of this was especially groundbreaking and at times it looked a touch stagey. A bigger budget may have helped too (was it made on a shoestring?). But the programme made its point well: immigrants have a sense of humour, too.
Gerard O'Donovan, The Telegraph, 30th May 2016