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This review is for the first season. I, like many people here, was intrigued by the premise and enjoyed the first episode. But the rest made me slowly lose interest. For one thing, it felt like the actual solving/conclusion of the case was rushed and barely dealt with. In fact, in the same episode, I had actually already forgotten what happened to her!

But the main issue I had with this show was that many of the characters were just so unlikeable; I had very little empathy for them and just wanted to slash their tires, kick them in the shins, and force them into therapy. I never expect every character in a show/movie to be likable, but oftentimes there's a powerful character arc where the person redeems themselves and/or their "origin story" is revealed and I feel more empathy for them.

And it seems that in most shows/movies, there just aren't as many characters who are unlikeable and stay that way the entire time. There were four people in this show that just bugged me/made me mad and never redeemed themselves to me. And there wasn't much backstory to at least explain why they were so awful. What really sucked is that they were all women.

Now that I think about it, I didn't feel connected to *any* of the characters - even the ones who were likable. They all just felt underdeveloped and flat to me.

'Five Days' is billed as something special, a crime drama that consists of a series of episodes, each set on one particular day of a police enquiry. But in fact, this element of the story turns out to be rather less significant than might at first be thought, as the fact that the action in each episode is confined to 24 hours is hardly noticeable, and very little distinguishes the program from countless other crime stories. In fact one almost can't help drawing comparisons to the last 'Prime Suspect', as one of the sub-plots focuses on a single, cynical female cop approaching retirement: and it's not just the absence of Helen Mirren that makes the comparisons unfavourable. There's a lot of earnest over-emoting, manipulative music and a set of characters seemingly contrived so that each one is in some sense sympathetic, in another suspicious. And it's possible to guess the guilty party well before the end, not because of the internal dynamic of the story, but rather because of the construction of the drama as a whole: certain things must be true, to justify the way that the series focuses on certain characters at certain times. In spite of these failings, the series grew on me: by the end, I was quite gripped. But it's a sad sign that the BBC, which once made the likes of 'The Singing Detective', boasted of this of "possibly the best drama of the year": for there's little true originality on offer here, and the claim reveals a lack of ambition that is dreadfully disappointing. 'Five Days' is in fact not rubbish; but it is formulaic, and one would hope that the very best the BBC had to offer would be something a little more innovative and fresh.

It is the middle of the day when Leanne Wellings stops to buy flowers by the roadside on her way to see her grandfather with her children. The children are in the car when Leanne goes missing. The kids abandon the car and search for her and it is many hours before grandfather Victor calls the police. Later that night Leanne's husband Matt and his stepdaughter Tanya raise the alarm properly and a missing persons investigation is launched headed up by DSI Barclay as the family implodes with hope and worry.

Following on from the success of previous BBC/HBO crossover The State Within, this next joint effort was really pushed by the BBC, which maybe helped it get ratings but perhaps didn't help it when you look at the approach it takes across all five hours. The story is engaging but you do need to understand that it is not a cop thriller but rather a character story that is as much based on the mystery as it is on the emotional and personal impact on all those involved. I say this because I know many viewers were disappointed with this approach and I think it may have been because they assumed that the hype meant it would blow everyone away. And of course it didn't but what it did do was effortlessly draw me into the people and have me caring about everyone involved.

Thus this is one of those dramas where it is not all about the resolution as it is about the overall drama. This is a good thing because the characters are all pretty well written throughout the five selected days and they are convincingly developed or broken as we meet them each time. This worked really well for me and the cast respond well to it. Some have seemingly stock characters with things going on outside this story while others are right in the middle of the pain and loss. Oyelowo turns in yet another strong performance as the husband and his emotional range in the character is impressive, but he is far from being the whole show. Wilton and Malahide both work well together as the parents. I didn't totally think Smart made her character work and, as much as I like Amuka-Bird as an actress, I'm not sure it helped anyone to have her walking round constantly with an air of surrogate grief. Bonneville is solid while Bonnard, McTeer and others are strong. The child performances are mostly good although Dryzek is the strongest of the three and stands up very well alongside the adult cast. Woodward is good but not given as much to do as I would have hoped.

The downside of this approach though is that the actual story of the crime and the investigation is not as good as it perhaps should have been. Too often things rely on coincidence to move the case forward and I didn't like the way that many things happened while the characters are all within spitting distance of it – I appreciate the town is supposed to be small but not that small! The conclusion to the disappearances may also bug some viewers because it is in keeping with the way that it unfolded and, in my opinion, not that satisfying or convincing.

Overall then a very good character drama that is sadly not quite as good as an investigation. The cast all rise to the material and are roundly good with the script. I'm glad I watched it because I did enjoy it but it is not as perfect as some of the gushing reviews around would suggest.

I love all the actors in this series. However, the storyline was disjointed, jumbled, depressing, head-scratching and just plain dizzying. I almost didn't watch the last two episodes but forced myself to finish. I wish I had that two hours back. Haven't been this disappointed for a very long time.

A number of posters have commented on the unsatisfactory conclusion. This is always a problem with long, complex dramas. Crime is essentially banal, so the pay off is always anti-climactic, whilst detailed exposition detracts from the human drama. The writer has used a number of clever devices to try and get round this, but has not been entirely successful. Answers to precisely what happened and why may have been supplied, but if so they are well buried. The viewer inevitably feels a little cheated.

But in a sense this is unimportant. The drama was never about the crime, or even the investigation, it was about the impact of events on the lives of those involved; the family, the investigators, the witnesses, the press. And as such it was gripping. The writing was a significant cut above the run of the mill for prime-time drama, and the performances uniformly good. In an ensemble piece it is invidious to focus on individuals, but Penelope Wilton deserves special mention for an extraordinary tour de force as the mother-wife-daughter, and Janet McTeer was in cracking form as a hard-bitten old cop.

One of the most interesting aspects of the drama is the handling of race, as the elephant in the room that no-one is prepared to mention. Subtle, powerful stuff.

I started watching the series with the idea that it was a police series. After all, it's a relationship/family drama where the actual investigation of the crime takes a back seat. This is perhaps the single weakest point of the series. On the one hand, it is interesting to look at it this way, but this has become more the rule than the exception these days. Of course, this is an old series.

All in all, however, the series was well done and well acted. The series held its grip until the end. Fortunately, the first season was only 5 episodes long. Nowadays, series are often prolonged.

Some critics have criticised the fact that there were no likeable characters in the series. I disagree. But I disagree more with the idea that a series or film should have likable or identifiable characters. Why should there be?

It's not a terrible story. It had enough to keep me interested but it's certainly not a crime thriller. Nor does it play out like a true crime story (which it isn't). Some of the acting is strange and overly dramatic (the dad or the teenage daughter), but others are more genuine and heartwarming. The relationships are also strange...the dad and the woman who found the kid, or the black police lady and what about the first creep that was arrested? You think you'll find out more but you don't. It's weird. I didn't love it. I wouldn't recommend it. In a month or so, I'll probably forget all about it. It's not very memorable.

My wife and I have watched the first three episodes in one sitting and am counting the days to the last two. What elevates this above the usual police procedure series, is the way that it examines the crimes through the eyes of all participants. The police, the journalists, the families, the neighbours and the workmates are all examined in detail showing how serious crimes can affect a whole community. The acting is superb, particularly that of the older generation, played by Patrick Malhyde, Penelope Wilton and Edward Woodward. A nice Jane Tennyson type character played by Janet McTeer her boss Hugh Bonneville and Phil Davies as a hardened reporter all contribute to some fine ensemble acting. The stories of the many characters gradually come together in a way that constantly challenges your perceptions of what is going to happen next. Reminiscent of the story-telling style of 'Crash' or 'Short Cuts', this is superior television and should not be missed.

This could have been a nifty two-parter with tight pacing and concise storytelling. Instead, it's bloated with gratuitous soap opera backstories and boring, long, pointless conversations. The character development overwhelms the plot, and detracts from the impact of the story. A missed opportunity.

Gripping thriller concerning a mother who disappears from the roadside after stopping to buy flowers en route to see her wheelchair bound grandfather (Woodward). Her two small children are left by the roadside, and themselves become missing persons when they set out to find their mother. Father (Oyelowo) leads the hunt for his missing family in the hope that some, if not all, will be found alive before it's too late.

There's a lot of detail as you'd imagine in such a long mini-series, but the forensic analysis and character development makes for compelling viewing, never laboured and certainly not time-bound. While the cast may be mostly unfamiliar, they each seem to be on the same page narratively, displaying a unique angle from which to elaborate on their perspective of the mystery. Apart from Woodward (whose character is largely extraneous to the plot), only Patrick Malahide, Bernard Hill and Pene Wilton were recognisable, although Sarah Smart leaves an impression as the concerned but somewhat vulnerable nanny with whom Oyelowo becomes involved in a complex, but at times suspicious arrangement.

"Five Days" documents each day in the increasingly desperate hunt for the missing trio, a reflection of the kind of urban mystery that happens from time-to-time in real life. Like most British police shows, there's a highly procedural and forensic method of storytelling with which you'll either be comfortable, or find irritating if you're used to the more exaggerated spectacle of American cop shows. Tense, addictive and highly recommended.

This is a very engrossing BBC-TV mini-series which is loosely based upon a mysterious disappearance of a young mother, but the series is really more of a study of the assorted characters in the story, which lasts for five hours. It is thus very much an ensemble piece, where the wide variety of brilliant British actors and actresses can show off their talents. The actual characters portrayed are really 'the kind of people one does not normally meet', people so boring and nondescript that it is difficult to admire them. For instance, the lead character is a young husband (the one whose wife disappears) who has no job and no apparent interest in finding any. He lives off handouts from his parents-in-law. He was once in the Army but does not appear to have the slightest flicker of any ambition or any interests in life apart from doting on his small family. He is played by David Oyelowo, who is brilliant at the part, coming across as a totally sympathetic person, although his only activities for five hours are loving and grieving, which he does superbly, so that one wants to comfort him, as he is so obviously a nice guy. The standout performance of the whole series is unquestionably Penelope Wilton, who acts circles round everyone else in the story. She is simply incredible. She portrays a very unsympathetic woman, indeed the only character in the story who is all too familiar to everyone, namely an irrational, hysterical, self-centred, dense, querulous, blindly loving and blindly hating, elderly idiot-woman. Alas, alas, we know them too well. Wilton is one of Britain's finest actresses (see my review of her in 'Half Broken Things'). She takes a character who could have been two-dimensional and makes her four-dimensional. She is wonderfully supported by old pro Patrick Malahide, who plays her exasperated husband, and the pair of them set a high standard indeed for all the younger players. Janet McTeer, a spectacular actress when younger, has become a much less sympathetic type of person now that she is older, has coarsened in some way, and puts one off, but she redeems herself in the latter stages of the story by showing how brilliant an actress she can be when she has a chance by pulling off one of the most convincing and original drunk scenes I have ever seen on film. The big surprise is the enigmatic character Sarah, played with great depth and originality by actress Sarah Smart. She takes a character who could have been insufferably tedious and by sheer acting magic turns her into a deeply mysterious and intriguing person, about whom we wonder tirelessly for the entire five hours. She is so good at it that we end up wondering about Sarah Smart, frankly. I guess that's what happens when you really do your job properly, that people wonder where the character ends and the actress begins, if she knows herself, that is, and many do not. She has some deeply unnerving tricks with her eyes, which wobble and let us know she is unhinged, but we are not sure how or why, though we eventually learn that she had an extremely violent and traumatic childhood. Her mastery of ambiguous facial expressions is extraordinary. Rory Kinnear is amazingly convincing as an apparently hopeless fellow who lives with his mum and isn't up to much, but who turns out to have hidden depths. (I suppose most people have hidden depths, but do we want to plumb them, that is the question.) His mum is played very well indeed by Margot Leicester. A superb performance is given by Lucinda Dryzek, who plays a snotty, revolting teenage girl of the sort we all dread to meet, but who at crucial moments collapses in helpless tears and turns out to be pathetic, with all her arrogance just a pose. Three other children are also very good, Lucinda's friend, and her younger half-brother and half-sister. The younger siblings may be very dim indeed as characters in the story (they seem unable to say anything particularly articulate, being hopeless witnesses to the disappearance), with little to recommend them but their sweet natures, but that is conveyed to wonderful effect by Lee Massey as the boy and Tyler Anthony as the girl. Harriet Walter has a small role, but we do not get to see much of her, which is a shame, as she is such a fine actress that she was wasted here. One could go on, but one must draw a line somewhere. The series manages to be strangely fascinating because of the depth of portrayal of all these essentially uninteresting people caught up in a web of intense anxiety and suspense.

Who doesn't love a good mystery with twists and turns and a surprise ending? In Five Days the writers put together a five part mini-series that quite frankly took the viewer to a very disappointing ending. The various characters all had potential to provide a classic mystery "who done it?", but instead we are provided a confusing and messy ending that within less than five (5) days it will have totally fallen off of my personal memory bank.

Not mysterious. Not classic. Not entertaining.

Pass on this one

I give Five Days a 4 out of 10 rating.

One of the finest pieces of television drama of the last decade. Throughout the five hours, ones perceptions and sympathies are constantly challenged as it explores many facets of modern day British society. David Morrisey is, as usual, brilliant. At first coming across as a heavy handed copper in conflict with the heroine, but then proving to be intelligent and caring, as he works with her in uncovering the truth. I have never seen Surrane Jones before. I believe she comes from the world of television soaps. Her performance was magnificent, as she maintains her humour and composure whilst trying to balance the demands of the case and the stress of caring for her mother. I could go on and talk about every member of the cast who contributes to this magnificent drama, but their efforts would mean little without such an absorbing script that constantly challenges your assumptions about any of the characters. It is programmes like this that restore one's faith in television drama, whilst at the same time making it almost impossible to settle for most of the garbage that is increasingly filling the airwaves.

After a promising first hour, Five Days deteriorates into a soap opera that seems to willfully defy credibility. Overacting abounds, with Penelope Wilton winning top (bottom?) honors. Hugh Bonneville and Edward Woodward are wasted; David Oyelowo's character must be the Worst Grieving Husband in the history of television. Rarely has so much skill at production been held hostage to such a disastrous screenplay (one that revels in irrelevant subplots). Three stars for the first hour-which is quite good-but otherwise...ugh. Anyone who can figure out the purpose of Sarah Smart's character can drop me a line and explain it.

Well acted BBC Crime Drama involving abductions has a few twists and a fresh feel using five random days over the course of time There is a second series so will be tuning in

It's clearly a crime story, but the merits lie not so much in the mystery as in the interaction of the people affected by it. As my rating indicates, I think this is better than most reviewers see it, maybe because they're more interested in the mystery element than the character side. It clearly doesn't have the intricate crime solving style used by the Unforgotten. Nor is the character development up to the Unforgotten standard, which I consider to be the gold standard. But it's much much better than several crime stories that I've seen rated higher. The acting is first rate not only in the leads, but the quality goes deep into the lesser roles.

Slow and contrived with bad acting. Season 2 is literal trainwreck.

It had a huge potential but unlike any good mystery- the ending had no relation what so ever to the events that happened on the previous episodes. The ending is messy and really just makes no sense. We thought we missed something but it seems like no one really got it - so it's not just us.

This might be good for: if you study writing and you want to learn about how NOT ending a story.

We watched this thinking that if it is HBO and BBC it must be good. Not one bit. It was a total waste of time. The husband threw out his phone once he knew his wife was missing (Wouldn't he want his phone in case she tried to call him?). If you waste time finding out why (do they even say?), just that alone shows why this is a bunch of poorly written bullshit. I hate to leave bad reviews but this was so bad and a waste of five hours of my life that could have been entertained by a plethora of other shows that would have been better. There are so many choices of stuff to watch.I would rather I never saw this. I hated it. It will only get three stars because there are a few good actors in it.

I wouldn't go that far. One of the main characters, David Oyelowo, the husband/father's main acting technique is staring silently and sullenly when asked questions. He also violently and physically attacks almost anyone who approaches him, whether verbally or physically. Family is portrayed as hysterical and ungrateful idiots. I tried and wanted to like it, btw. Also, as others said, it is an interesting story line, but drags on too long.