The Listeners

This series is beautifully shot and deserves your full attention. It's neither obvious nor linear and it's not sexual or sordid. The people criticising this show are no different to the characters doubting Claire in the story. Is it perfect or life-changing? Maybe not, but it's absolutely fascinating and the cinematography is absolutely stunning. From the title card to the abstract sequences, it's a thriller with a very subtle supernatural undertone. If you enjoyed The Leftovers or The OA this one is for you. There's a lot to chew on and it's worth a rewatch as well. It'll go down as a cult classic.

Having read the synopsis for this before starting to watch it I thought this would be really interesting. The overall rating for this was around 5/10, so it had very mixed reviews.

The idea for the story is good. The story starts off quite well and had potential. Unfortunately it just got really weird and creepy.

This is ok to have on in the background but not to waste four hours of your life.

The story had too many plot holes and just got more irritating the more you watched.

Overall it's a poor storyline with poor script, dialogue and acting.

Such a shame because this story could have been so much better. A wasted opportunity.

This show is an extremely well observed, nuanced portrayal of someone who feels lost and is seeking a different way of life. Suffocated by her choices, Claire (played by the exceptionally talented Rebecca Hall) begins hearing a sound she can't escape while living a life defined by her role as a teacher and mother.

The 'hum' leads her down a dark path, away from those she loves to find connection elsewhere, amongst other lost people struggling to cope in mainstream society. All in all I found this a very poignant study that brings up questions around mental illness, reality, convention and the drive that makes someone abandon those they love.

The premise of Listeners - people who can hear a mysterious low humming sound - might feel familiar, but this drama finds a way to make it feel fresh. Rather than focusing on the mystery of the hum itself, Listeners takes a deeper, more emotional approach, exploring how this strange phenomenon changes the lives of those who hear it.

What really works is how the story leans into the human side of the concept. It's not just about the sound; it's about what it does to people, which makes it far more engaging than you might expect.

The acting is solid, with performances that draw you in without overplaying the drama. And the sound design is just subtle enough to make the hum feel like another character in the story, ever-present and unsettling.

Listeners strikes a balance between eerie and intimate, making it more than just another mystery. It's a thought-provoking exploration of how the unexplainable can shape our lives - and well worth a watch.

English teacher Claire starts to hear a humming noise, a sound that nobody else can hear. The hum starts to affect her life, she finds some comfort when a student, Kyle, also hears the same noise, the pair explore the noise, and are drawn to a group.

I've heaped praise on the drama output of both ITV and The BBC during 2024, both organisations have put out some wonderful content. This however, this is the low point, a total dud.

Excruciatingly slow to start, it should have been half the running time, the only time the series offers anything, is in the third episode, which I enjoyed. Episode four is truly one of the most painfully, terrible things I've ever watched, there are no words for how awful it is.

We get such a feeble explanation, we don't even get to glimpse the sound, we should have been given the hum very early on, it made it impossible to empathise with Claire. There's weird, and then there's plain old incomprehensible, and this I'm afraid is that, it leaves the viewer cold.

It's diversity on steroids, as you'd expect, The BBC's world view on things continues to patronise.

Some decent performances however, Amr Waked stands out, the guy has some real presence.

Avoid.

4/10.