Andrew Buchan

This England , the Sky Atlantic series which sees Kenneth Branagh portray former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson , has arrived to mixed reviews.

The six-part docudrama series recounts Johnson's Time In The Role , based on real events, testimonies and archive footage.

It focuses on the start of the Covid pandemic, his hospital admission after catching The Virus and his son's Birth .

described it as " a gruelling watch, But a mesmerising one".

Said Branagh " fails to get under Boris's skin" in Michael Winterbottom and Kieron Quirke 's series, while called This England " TV at its most triggering".

Writing for the Telegraph, Anita Singh gave the " dud" drama just two-stars, saying Branagh's " bad wig and prosthetics overshadow what could have been a serious drama about the pandemic and lockdown".

" This is A Story of care home deaths, inadequate PPE, relatives forced to say deathbed goodbyes to their loved ones over FaceTime, " She Said . " The Problem is that other dramas have told this story far better - Think of Jack Thorne 's terrific Help, starring Jodie Comer as a carer.

" Here, the sadness of those scenes is undercut by The Action switching back to Whitehall every few minutes, where an actor [Andrew Buchan ] is attempting to impersonate [former Health Secretary] Matt Hancock . "

She described the portrayal of Johnson as a " living, breathing version of Spitting Image".

Carol Midgley, writing in The Times however, opined The Show was " brilliantly realistic" offering Four Stars . " Too brilliantly realistic, " she added, noting how she had actually had to turn it off after a particularly " excruciating" death scene.

" Michael Winterbottom does a masterful job entwining The Parallel narratives of Covid approaching like a Bullet Train and Johnson distracted by his domestic dramas: his divorce, his pregnant girlfriend, Carrie, his grown-up children ignoring his voicemails, and his asking 10 Downing Street staff to 'do the honours' and Pick Up Dilyn The Dog 's poo, " she wrote.

" If This England were a cartoon character it would be Road Runner , such is the break-neck speed at which events are covered, real footage woven into the drama. "

Both journalists appeared to agree though that Johnson's Covid-induced dream sequence featuring His Family was a major mis-step.

Johnson's wife Carrie Symonds is played on The Show by Ophelia Lovibond , while his controversial chief advisor Dominic Cummings is portrayed by Simon Paisley Day.

The Guardian 's Hollie Richardson Said Branagh, seen regularly quoting William Shakespeare , was " sickeningly accurate as Boris Johnson ".

" It starts in early 2020 when Brexit, floods, a cabinet reshuffle and writing a book on Shakespeare distract Johnson from a 'mysterious Sars-like virus' outbreak in China, " she wrote.

" This programme might have been made too Soon - But perhaps its very intention is to be unsettling. "

In its three-star review, tended to agree, saying Branagh was " utterly convincing" as Johnson But that the series contained " extremely distressing scenes and fails as a drama when those events are still unfolding".

" It used to be Said that journalism provides The First draft of history, " wrote Neil Armstrong . " Now, it seems, hard on journalism's heels, comes a high-profile six-part drama. "

For the, the programme " pulls off the unusual feat of feeling simultaneously premature and dated" while turning the " floundering former Prime Minister into a tragic theatrical hero".

" For many viewers, watching a dramatisation of the pandemic while the realities of illness, loss and lockdown remain raw will seem like a pointless or masochistic endeavour, " wrote Dan Einav, while dishing out three-stars. " Those who are drawn by the Sky mini-series' Focus On the goings-on at Number 10 will find a truncated story. "

He noted how with work on the series having begun so early in the pandemic, it " culminates not with Partygate (which precipitated Boris Johnson 's political collapse) But with Dominic Cummings ' ophthalmological adventures to Barnard Castle". " While This England may be less than necessary, it does offer More Than a run-through of the early Covid timeline, " he went on. " Billed as 'a fiction based on real events', it combines an account of the government's reactive, insufficient and often careless handling of The Crisis with a strange, intriguing and speculative character study of Johnson. "

offered four-stars, agreeing The Show had " the makings of a persuasive critique of what went right and (more to The Point ) wrong when Johnsonian Britain collided with a global health crisis".

But , reviewer Gerard Gilbert added that anyone hoping for a Downing Street version of [Cromwell drama] Wolf Hall or The Crown would be " disappointed" due to the " kaleidoscopic" drama's " scattered" focus, which leaves Johnson as " an almost peripheral figure".

" This is probably not far from The Truth , " he wrote. " Branagh does a great job of impersonating Johnson's gait, mannerisms and mien (although he looks older around The Eyes than the ex-PM), without really telling us much that's new about The Man .

" But this is a thoughtful drama and hopefully a more incisive portrait will emerge. "

Source of news: bbc.com