Sunday 8.30-10pm, BBC1
The Guardian, Rupert Smith
Verdict: breathtaking in parts
"As long as we were seeing life through the child's eyes, there was nothing to be desired in strangeness and wonder. But as soon as the point of view strayed, it seemed as if Poliakoff (who wrote and directed) was trying too hard to fill in the historical gaps... As John grew up, and was banished further from the court, his overview of events became more sporadic, if more intense. Running around his cottage prison, he caught fugitive glimpses of public figures through cracks in the shutters, and it was here, in the child's fractured view of a fragmenting world, that Poliakoff really hit on something."
The Independent, Thomas Sutcliffe
Verdict: beguilingly ambitious
"It looked wonderful throughout (and I'm not just talking about set dressing), and it was marvellously acted - not least by the two boys who played the titular lost prince with a winning simplicity. The only question mark is whether a drama that has effortlessly distanced itself from historical pageant in its early scenes can remain aloof when public history intrudes."
The Times, Paul Hoggart
Verdict: entrancing
"As Poliakoff's themes have ascended through the social ranks, his vision has become even more oblique and atmospheric... Sometimes the drama has bordered on the fey. Often it hints at a mystical triumph that isn't there, a triumph of style over substance. But this time he has found a subject sublimely suited to his style... On one level, in fact, the lost prince is the writer himself. It is entrancing stuff, even to a hardened Poliakoff sceptic."
The Daily Telegraph, Damian Thompson
Verdict: perfect
"I don't know about you, but after a week of bombardment by that wretched trailer - "See the splendour of the British royal family, see their many extravagances, see the devotion of a nanny" - I was ready to dislike The Lost Prince. I started watching it in a grouchy, solecism-spotting mood, and it was a good hour before the truth sank in: the BBC really did have something to boast about .. I don't care how much of my licence fee they spent to get it right."
