The Night Caller

Just lately there has seen a spate of four part dramas on channel five, with its fair to say mixed results. The Night Caller staring the excellent Robert Glenister and Sean Pertwee is a psychological thriller set in Liverpool.

Glenister plays a taxi driver who has recently lost his job as a school teacher due to a tragic accident he blames on himself. During his night shift he listens to the late night phone in on local radio, and believes he has found a soulmate in Pertwee who plays the Phone in's host.

What follows is pretty grim, as we see a man suffer a mental breakdown as he try's to come to terms with how his life has come to this point.

Overall a really well made, well written drama. More of the same please channel five. 8/10.

Glenister and Pertwee are absolutely superb in this dark drama about depression and deception. Other very good performances from some faces you'll recognise too. I don't recall seeing Pertwee before but his voice was just fantastic as the radio host.

Yes some found it slow but some of the best of the genre from the likes of Hitchcock built slowly and exploded at the end. It doesn't need to be a thrill a minute gore-fest car crash to be a great drama which this is.

The night time darkness adds to this study of haunting depression, guilt and hopelessness. The simple but basic locations were just right too.

Glenister's face and Pertwee's voice deserve special mention..

Lots of parallels drawn with Taxi Driver but Play Misty for Me was a big memory for me.

Put simply: this series is a real treat. It's well made. Brilliantly acted. Perfectly scripted. And beautifully photographed.

Both Robert Glenister & Sean Pertwee are on top form. The connection between the two actors and their characters is excellent. The dynamism is magic.

The story is a perfect length. At 4 episodes the miniseries is just long enough without being dragged on and on. And as over-lengthening - or over-shortening - is a common flaw in modern dramas, this ideal length was a sign of good editing.

The storyline is credible. As are the lead characters. The plot's development is realistic, the characters' backstories are sufficiently fleshed out, and the lead-up to the finale is well paced. We believe the two leads' pain and how they each got where they are.

Other good points: The minor characters are all scoped out well. There is no spurious box-ticking. Even the incidental music is on point. The characters are written as human - i_e_ making crass mistakes - but, as imperfect is how human beings are, this is what we need to see.

The storyline references modern issues: school teachers' stress, kids' peer pressure, social media hassle, binge-drinking, generational differences, ex-military PTSD, loneliness. I challenge any series to give a viewer more in a range of issues with which to identify.

Seeing two characters in their maturity/middle age - and actors of their performance magnitude - play off each other on screen, is a template for TV dramas. And as Channel 5 all too often rolls out dramas that verge upon dross, this series belies the pattern. The series lifts up the channel in my estimation. And to great heights. It shows us what a production unit can do when the team put their mind to it.

I see TV awards in the offing . . .

Can't believe this isn't getting better reviews and more praise. Stunning performance from Glenister in particular. You can see every drop of pain and confusion, despair in his performance. His face. If that is what acting is, conveying all of this with a look, he is some actor indeed. Pertwee is excellent as the somewhat immoral, selfish radio dj who just pretends to care, but even he is overshadowed by Glenister. Some excellent support in supporting roles, but this is largely a two header. Something rather different. Quite a sad, hard watch. Channel 5 proving they can turn out some top quality drama.

There are many poor reviews for this programme and everyone is entitled to their opinion. If you want action this is not for you. On the other hand if you want a believable plot full of tension about a man at the end of his tether then I recommend it. Both principal actors Sean Pertwee and especially Robert Glenister give wonderful performances in this superbly written drama about an ex teacher who is now driving a cab for a living. We don't know why he lost his job but it has deeply affected him. He finds comfort and support when he calls the Night Caller radio call-in programme. Gradually his problems are revealed but his troubles increase.