Dr Zhivago, Sunday, ITV 9pm
The Guardian, Gareth McLean
Verdict: Indifferent
"Like duelling juggernauts with rather fetching hood ornaments, Daniel Deronda and Dr Zhivago faced each other across the weekend schedule, fender to fender, engines revving. You couldn't have slipped a petticoat between them... And yet neither drama is sufficiently engaging because neither feels distinct enough... it seems due to the overzealous filleting of the material and the homogenised, identikit feel to proceedings, and specifically, to characters."
The Independent, Thomas Sutcliffe
Verdict: too sexed up
"Sex is far more sexy [to Andrew Davies] than ideas. When it's missing from the original, he adds it - as in Lara's seduction by Komarovsky - and if it's actually there, he amplifies it enormously."
The Daily Telegraph, James Walton
Verdict: enjoyable
"It's tempting to see Dr Zhivago as what Davies did to unwind after behaving himself so scrupulously with Daniel Deronda. Certainly the outcome is a lot more unbuttoned in every sense (including the literal). It's also a lot messier, a lot less responsible and a lot more enjoyable... As Zhivago himself, Hans Matheson comprehensively beats Omar Sharif by the simple tactic of not being an enormous ham."
The Times, Paul Hoggart
Verdict: engaging
"David Lean even highlighted the eyes of Omar Sharif and Julie Christie in unnatural horizontal beams. But he got away with it because, for good or ill, Sharif and Christie have extraordinarily expressive faces. Hans Matheson as Zhivago doesn't. Neither does Keira Knightly as Lara. They are both extremely pretty (that comes with the Andrew Davies adaption kit), but not much more yet... As for goofy Nick from My Family (Kris Marshall) taking on Tom Courtenay as Pasha, I could hardly bear to watch."
Daily Mail, Peter Paterson
Verdict: a must-see
"Davies and Campiotti's version of Boris Pasternak's novel seemed to me emotionally more truthful than Lean's, with a Lara, in Keira Knightly, and a Yuri Zhivago, played by Hans Matheson, quite the equal - dare I say it - of Julie Christie and Omar Sharif... Sam Neill's smooth and sinister Victor Komarovsky almost ran away with last night's opening episode."
Daily Mirror, Pete Shelley
Verdict: promising
"The first of three parts, it was promising rather than pyrotechnic: a soundtrack worthy of The Piano; some gently erotic stagecoach sex (can't beat it); lots of Russian passion. But the really epic romance is yet to come."
Daniel Deronda, Saturday, BBC1, 8.55pm
The Guardian, Gareth McLean
See above.
The Independent, Thomas Sutcliffe
Verdict: subtle
The high point in this first episode was the eerily gothic suicide attempt by Mirah, the Jewish girl who is saved by Daniel and who later reawakens his sense of radical identity. In fact, although any sensible handicapper would have given Zhivago two or three lengths on Deronda (a famously intractable read), George Eliot's novel seems just a neck ahead at this stage in the race... Deronda is currently the more subtle and insinuating."
The Daily Telegraph, James Walton
Verdict: beautiful but plodding
"Scene by scene, all of this was beautifully done. Taken as a whole, it proved distinctly plodding. Of course the BBC's decision to show Denial Deronda in 90-minute chunks doesn't help. There's also a big problem Davies has inherited from the book: Daniel himself may be a nice guy and everything, but he also remains stubbornly lifeless."
The Times, Paul Hoggart
Verdict: crisp elegance
"The settings for Daniel Deronda were off-the-peg, costume drama English Heritage grandeur, but they were given added visual zing by Tom Hooper's direction. Aerial shots seen in the Victorian era only by passing balloonists, made exotic patterns of the crinolines... Deronda is slower and less emotionally focused [than Dr Zhivago]. There was a crisp elegance about the first episode, but I am less confidence the interest will be sustained."
Daily Mail, Peter Paterson
Verdict: eye-catching
"As a traditional BBC costume serial, you could count off the set pieces we've come to expect of such occasions: the hunting scene, the grand ball, the picnic for young ladies, and the soiree where the established company is entertained with classical songs. For the next three weeks, it will change dreary Saturday night TV beyond recognition."
Daily Express, Robert Gore-Langton
Verdict: so far so good
"So far Daniel Deronda (handsome Hugh Dancy) is far too nice to be interesting, which I suspect is the novel's big problem, not that I've ever read it. So far so good, but I've got a feeling it's a book that's going to let us down in the end."