“Boring and soulless” Brian Cox 007 Series Fails To Impress Critics While Amazon Renews Show For Season 2
Brian Cox is one of the most talented and recognized actors of his generation. He is most known for his stage and television performances and also for supporting roles in film. Classically trained as a Shakespearean actor, he has starred in numerous productions with the Royal National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company. He gained recognition for his exceptional portrayal of King Lear.
Brian Cox is the first actor to have ever brought serial killer Hannibal Lecter to the screens as he starred as the character in 1986’s Manhunter. He recently appeared as the host of the James Bond spin-off reality competition show 007: Road to a Million. The show did not land well with the critics by the looks of it.
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Critics Did Not Like Brian Cox’s 007: Road to a Million Reality Competition Show
007: Road to a Million, produced by 72 Films alongside MGM Television and Eon Productions, was released on Amazon Prime Video nearly two weeks ago and has since managed to garner a lukewarm response from the UK audience as it failed to make it into the list of the top 50 most-watched shows in the UK.
According to Deadline, although the 007 competition show has nabbed the first spot in 27 different countries worldwide, it certainly failed to do the same in the UK according to the weekly list of 50 top-rated shows published by Barb, the UK’s official TV audience research body.
The first spot on the aforementioned list has gone to Strictly Come Dancing with 8.8 million viewers while the last position is occupied by the BBC police documentary The Met with an audience viewership of 2.7 million. While the precise figure of viewership is not known for 007: Road to a Million, the data implies that less than 2.7 million people found it entertaining.
The critics also do not seem all too impressed by the show as Lucy Mangan at The Guardian labeled the show “shoddy, boring and soulless”. Another critic at The Guardian found it enjoyable, saying that it may not make sense on paper but it is fun.
Brian Cox’s 007: Road to a Million Is Already Green-lit for A Second Season
007: Road to a Million features nine teams of two people each competing with each other to win £1 million by getting through a number of spy-themed challenges. Brian Cox hosts the show as the ‘Controller’, a Bond-style villain, who watches over the nine teams and lets them what tasks they are supposed to do or what questions they have to answer, and takes delight in watching the contestants struggle.
In September 2023, Variety reported that the casting process for the second season of the show had already begun. However, considering that this was even before the release of the first season and Amazon Prime has not made any comments about the performance of the first season of the show, there might be a chance that the show might not return for another season.
Hopefully, the Brian Cox-led show is doing better now and might get a better rating. There have been instances where the shows have done better in their sophomore season so there is still hope for the 007 show.
