Lancashire captures all of Julia's larger-than-life qualities. ... Julia feeds the soul to the brim. [11 - 24 Apr 2022, p.6]

Earnest and elegant. ... Julia lovingly crafts a portrait of a happy marriage—that of Julia and Paul Child (Sarah Lancashire and David Hyde Pierce), plucky, older aesthetes with a passion for the senses. As it progresses, Julia widens its scope to embrace workplace politics, early feminism, and the downside of celebrity, all side dishes that bake more gradually.

"The French Chef" exposed Americans to the joy of being in her company for half an hour every week. "Julia" delectably continues that tradition.

Lancashire’s Julia is touching and complex. ... “Julia” is pleasant, easy to watch, and, of course, filled with delicious-looking food and the obsession with it. Don’t worry, you can’t gain weight from watching.

In this series, Child’s flame burns brighter when the camera lets the people around her in. It would have been nice if the show believed in its title character enough to let her be flawed and expect the audience will find her captivating nonetheless.

It indulges in clichés without self-consciousness or self-awareness. It’s an earnestness that won’t be for everybody, but being conventional doesn’t preclude occasional fun bits of media-savvy insight, an abundance of well-photographed food and a towering — in every sense — central performance from Sarah Lancashire.

An intermittently charming biographical hodgepodge on HBO Max.