The Girl Before

This slick, stylised and to be honest, highly improbable four-part BBC thriller nevertheless kept my wife and I intrigued and excited all the way through. Highly reminiscent of the kind of glossy thriller Hollywood might have churned out in the 80's starring a Michael Douglas or Sharon Stone, it centred on an immaculate, high-tech London town-house available for rent but only to the absolutely right tenant. It's owned by a wealthy, successful but reclusive architect who rigorously vets applicants by setting them extensive personal new-age style questionnaires to complete, sets draconian rules to live by and who even conducts a final person interview process before giving them the nod or, given the place has been empty for some three years, more often, a shake of the head.

As we join the action, the story diverges into two separate timelines as we see firstly a young mixed-race couple and then a single black woman separately make it through all the owner's hoops and jumps to finally graduate to picking up the keys, or in this case, bracelet-passes to the swish new property which has every mod-con going including mood lighting and music, sensory-operated showers but, as we discover later, pretty much zero security. More than this though, both the owner and indeed the house itself, have dark secrets which the narrative teases out as both timelines, one present-day for the single girl and the other three years ago for the couple, end up in explosively dramatic conclusions.

It's fair to say that the other lead character in this drama is the house itself, both inside and out. Personally I'm something of a gadget-fiend myself so the idea of a fully automated property has always appealed to me but giving it a HAL-like personality has to be a mistake as we all know where that usually ends up.

After taking a little while to work out the intersecting stories and indeed separate out the two young women who, essentially for the narrative, closely resemble one another, this was a dark tale of obsession and control. I'm not sure I agreed with the domination and manipulation of two obviously emotionally damaged young women by a mysterious but superficially attractive male figure nor was I impressed by the relatively unsympathetic police treatment of a rape victim, but nevertheless my wife and I soon fell into step with with the intricately-plotted double mystery.

Strongly acted by all the principals and atmospherically directed, what it lacked in political correctness and credibility, it made up in vicarious thrills and chills.

The story of two women, Emma and Jane, linked by a house, and a man, Edward.

I came away from part one so confused, but curious, by the end of episode two, I was totally gripped and desperate for more, and to know the outcome.

It is pretty tough to follow, you need to be on your A game, as there is a lot going on. It does jump about quite a lot, back and forth, side to side, so watch it sober. Pacing may be an issue for some, but personally I enjoyed the way the story was told.

So many random events, drama, chaos, curiosity, you'll ask why, how and who, but ultimately there is just one single question, what happened that night? Easy to get sidetracked here in some of the strands, and there are many, but the core of the story is excellent.

I think the cast are fabulous, David Oyelowo is impressive throughout, charming and sinister.

A strange choice for The BBC I thought, putting this out Christmas week, it does deal with some pretty bleak themes, however it is worth your time, 8/10.

Adapted by JP Delaney from his novel this is a stylish production, well directed with lovely photography and an intelligent score. Cast were OK with no standouts apart from a couple of really lame cops.

The tone of the whole show was cold and detached and will have put many viewers off. It's written as a slow burner in which the relationship between the characters slowly becomes clear, but it needed more zip.

It's not awful or brilliant and I saw it through to the end - but for me ultimately it was just too s-l-o-w moving and I spotted the twist ending some way off. Would have been better adapted as a film over a couple of hours. An average drama at best.

Series that cares more abut how beautifully filmed than if there's a good story or a cohesive one. It had great potential. A creepy, mysterious house as well as the architect and all the back story. Started out muddled and disjointed. Give us some more back story( since the women look so identical before showing each's separate story lines back and forth, also way too many red herrings and irrelevant stuff. I knew there wasn't much of a story when this went on for episodes. It's not a bad serie just not a well thought out one with a good linear story. Wasn't really a thriller in the end. Just a Series masquerading as one...

Everything seems so good: the idea, the storytelling, the acting, the atmosphere and the mystery... but... completely lets you down by the cliched and predictable ending. An ending so bad and poorly executed that underestimates the viewer's intelligence.

Not to mention the life experiences of the main characters that are completely irrelevant to the main story.

It's a pity as all the prospects for an intriguing and intelligent tv-show were there, by the reach of the hand.