Esther Smith
- English
- Actor
Press clippings Page 2
Trying Series 3, AppleTV+ review
Not much can shut out the world right now, so grab Trying and hold it tight.
Euan Franklin, Culture Whisper, 21st July 2022Trying: Series 3 review
Series 3 of Trying, starring Rafe Spall and Esther Smith, is heartfelt and wonderful.
Mae Trumata, The Upcoming, 18th July 2022Edinburgh TV Awards 2022 nominees
After Life, Mandy, Motherland, Sex Education, Stath Lets Flats and The Outlaws are amongst the nominees for the Edinburgh TV Awards 2022.
British Comedy Guide, 16th June 2022Trying, Apple TV+ review
Esther Smith triumphs anew in adoption-centred comedy-drama.
Matt Wolf, The Arts Desk, 21st May 2021Backstage with... stars of parenting comedy Trying
An interview with Rafe Spall and Esther Smith.
Claire Gregory, Sky News, 21st May 2021Trying Series 2 review
With Esther Smith and Rafe Spall back in delightful form, it would be hard to find a better pair to build a heartwarming comedy around.
Steve Greene, IndieWire, 21st May 2021Trying 2 review
In an era of TV/streaming shows celebrating diversity, Andy Wolton's programme feels like something of a throwback to a Richard Curtis-style period when London was populated entirely by white people, i.e. never.
Dan Meier, The Upcoming, 17th May 2021Rafe Spall, Esther Smith still 'Trying'
Jason Ross and Nikki Newman are back for Season 2 of Trying - and all is right in their world. Well, almost.
Michael Starr, The New York Post, 11th May 2021Trying to return to Apple TV+ for Series 3
Trying, the Apple TV+ comedy series starring Rafe Spall and Esther Smith as a couple planning to adopt a baby, is to return for a third series. Meanwhile, the second series will be available to stream from 14th May.
British Comedy Guide, 24th March 2021Trying is Apple TV+'s first dedicated comedy, apparently, and rather good for what it is. What it is is something about a north London couple trying to adopt, and a refreshingly non-Richard Curtis London couple, for what's sure to be a global viewership, or as much as Apple TV+ can depend on a global viewership, which is frankly not yet much.
It's funny, genuinely, with some very good lines. Rafe Spall as Jason excels as one half of the trying couple, lugubrious and staunchly anti-intellectual, yet half-wise. Where it falls down, and certainly not with the actor, Esther Smith (Nikki), is in the tweeness of characterisation. In 2005 film critic Nathan Rabin coined, not entirely unkindly, the phrase "manic pixie dream girl" for a certain type of heroine, and Nikki's certainly that - dungarees, breezy kookiness, squirrels and rainbows.
Unfortunately, this all spills over into the adoption process, with Nikki constantly trying to better herself (reading Dostoevsky, attending lectures with three highlighter pens) rather than Just Being Herself. Which will win in the long run. I'm sorry, it's rather good, but it irritated, with its cliched (bad) books versus (good) carefree-beach vibe, when there's no quandary. It's not a zero-sum game.
Euan Ferguson, The Guardian, 10th May 2020