“Thank heaven for Occupation...the TV highlight of the week by a mile.”
Sam Wollaston, Guardian

“There is a lot of quite good televisionaround. And then there’s Occupation. You can tell in the opening seconds that Peter Bowker’s drama is something out of the ordinary...This is powerful, intelligent writing, with direction and performances to match.”
Jane Shilling, Evening Standard

“This superb extended play, which deserves to win every BAFTA going, showed what can still be done by a good writer, a good director and a good producer.”
Evening Standard

“I know that I bemoaned the dearth of new drama in a recent column, but my faith has been considerably restored by Occupation...It’s a very bold piece, brilliantly written by Peter Bowker and awesomely well acted by James Nesbit, Stephen Graham and Warren Brown...a superlative drama that somehow seems to sink into your bone marrow.”
Radio Times

“Occupation was written by Peter Bowker, the most brilliant writer in British television, so of course it was going to be clever, funny, unsettling, counterintuitive, moving, shrewdly observed and dramatically satisfying. It was also by the way, quite superbly acted and directed, with an ace soundtrack and the most fantastic touches.”
The Spectator

“Iraq dramas haven’t been crowd-pleasers but a powerful new BBC series is about to change all that…James Nesbitt leads an outstanding cast.”
The Sunday Times

“If you only watch one drama this year, make it Occupation, already being hailed as one of the most remarkable pieces of television in years...”
Manchester Evening News

“What made this the best drama on television for a long time was the quality of the writing, the depth and contradictions of character, the complexity of the plot, the finely interwoven stories and the utterly believable emotions and heartbreaking dilemmas. But what was best was it was a truth without being about the facts...James Nesbitt gave us by far and away his best performance on a small screen. He created a character of compelling human strength and fallibility...It is one of the few programmes we could point to and say: “This is how good television drama can be, and this is the quality of writing all script editors should be demanding.”
A.A. Gill, The Sunday Times

“While Occupaton was emotionally rich, it also – thanks to Nick Murphy’s direction – had great visual and atmospheric texture. This was not the sort of artificially heightened realism that TV so often trades in...Rather, everything looked and felt authentic. And while Nesbitt was terrific as Mike, he wasn’t alone. Everyone else brought a similar amount of shading and intensity to their roles...a highly impressive piece of work, one of those rare occasions where you come away filled with hope and excitement about what TV drama is capable of.”
John Preston, The Sunday Telegraph

“As the debate rages over what the BBC should be about, along comes Occupation – a dazzling triumph which, over three mesmerising nights, answered the question...this is as good as TV drama gets.”
Sunday Mirror

A real shot in the arm for BBC drama...quality drama...an opening sequence worthy of the cinema...Cynicism and tragedy were weaved together here in a telling and timely critique.”
David Stephenson, Sunday Express

“I’ve been waiting for a British war drama this good for a decade...Peter Bowker’s writing was thrilling – funny, sad, real, believable – and the story arc hit its marks like a rat-a-tat chorus of tap-dancing hoofers...Occupation was precisely what we pay our license fee for, and gladly.”
Kathryn Flett, The Observer

“Occupation was a tremendous piece of fiction, acted mesmerizingly: it captured the aching cruelty and sorrow of any war.”
John Lloyd, Financial Times

“I devoted my viewing energy to the incredible three-parter Occupation...and then I remembered just how brilliant and gripping British telly can be...All I know is that, as a viewer, it felt for once as if I wasn’t being treated like a numpty. It didn’t preach, but it sure as hell made me think. It was three solid hours of often harrowing viewing, and I didn’t resent a single second of it.”
Mike Ward, Daily Star



“Peter Bowker's Occupation deals brilliantly with the complex and grim realities of the conflict in Iraq...Yet much of its brilliance lies in its depiction of three individual soldiers and the relationships between them: how one incident affects them differently, and the cost to each of them of participating in the war.
Occupation is as much a detailed portrait of three characters – played brilliantly by James Nesbitt, Stephen Graham and Warren Brown – as it is a grand panorama of the theatre of war. It's rare, seemingly rarer with every passing day, that I thoroughly recommend something, but Occupation is one of those things...Certainly Nesbitt's Mike Swift...is fascinating, nuanced and award-worthy.
Certainly, Bowker's unerring and honest focus on such detail is the mark of a fine dramatist – and without a doubt, he is one of Britain's best.”
Gareth McLean, Guardian

“...an early contender for programme of the year, boasting a quality cast and a cracking, daring script.”
The London Paper