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CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION | ||
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Positive:
2
Mixed:
5
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews
Jun 23, 2026
Season 1 Review:
[Brenda Blethyn] has the presence to make the older, decent but canny Emma convincing; Ms. [Jessica] Reynolds, who has to contend with the most fragrant passages of dialogue, transcends her various directors’ efforts toward emotional excess. .... Bradford wasn’t strictly a romance novelist, but she didn’t sell 90 million-plus books by being understated. The people behind “A Woman of Substance” know what fans of Bradford and Emma are looking for. The series is tailored accordingly.
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The GuardianMar 11, 2026
Season 1 Review:
A Woman of Substance still works brilliantly as a nostalgia piece – a perfect homage to the age of excess and television that drowned you in plot and let someone else worry about the rest. Think of it as Dallas in Yorkshire. Three-star television but four-star nonsense and delight.
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Radio TimesMar 11, 2026
Season 1 Review:
Reynolds is a force to be reckoned with here – bringing humour, light, hope and heartbreak to every episode. With less screen time than Reynolds, it's hard for Blethyn to embody all of that to a similar degree but in the final moments of the series, she does come into her own a bit more as the story takes some soapy turns.
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The TimesMar 11, 2026
Season 1 Review:
This drama can be a bit “tell” not “show”. It is also, obviously, really silly. But it does have the nous to lean into the absurdity with thunderous string music, fortissimo piano and sweeping shots of the lovely Yorkshire landscape. If anything, the parallel timeline is even more lush.
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