Intruder is a new four-part drama series on Channel 5, over four nights, and prior to broadcast, I won’t discuss anything major that’s not in the trailer, so there’s plenty still to discover. After that, I’ll put any additional per-episode discussion behind spoiler header so you can’t accidentally come across anything.
Before the opening credits, there’s been a break-in, and houseowner Becca (Elaine Cassidy) is on the phone to the police about it, telling them how the burglar, Syed (Sonny Poon Tip) attacked her husband, Sam (Tom Meeten), with the uninvited guest ending up brown bread.
However, before too long, we learn that’s not quite how things happened because there were two of them working together, one had left and Syed was trying to get out at the last minute, but then sometimes, the impetus of a situation takes over and when you have a knife in your hand, you might just do something you regret a moment later.
One thing I did wonder is why this pair would go for such a huge house in the first place? And surely, such a large abode would have endless CCTV? That’s the FIRST thing you’d think of! Besides, these days, I think you generally get less house burglaries because you might trouser a laptop worth a couple of hundred quid, but meanwhile, there’s people walking around in broad daylight with £1000 mobile phones right in front of their faces, and a big meanie who’d take one of those and then leg it would be long gone before its rightful owner even knows what’s happened!
Anyhoo, back to this pair – who are also joined by friend Angela (Helen Behan), who’s still there from a long-finished dinner party – and they’re in rather a pickle, since what do you do next? That’s what they need to figure out. That said, before they got into that discussion, I was wondering, do you really call the cops, or since you’re living near the sea, do you just chuck him into the water? That’d be worth a thought.
Cold Call‘s Sally Lindsay is also on hand, and she gets involved as Karen, the Family Liaison Officer, speaking to both them and, later, Syed’s father.
At this stage, without going into detail about what happened – and while I will watch the remaining episodes – I can’t say I was particular wowed by the opener to this latest Channel 5 consecutive night offering. Meanwhile, the trailer, below, has everyone not trusting each other, whilst running around a lot. It was quite comical after a couple of viewings.
The following updates/additional thoughts have been added after the broadcast of each respective episode.
UPDATE Episode 1:
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When Sam and Becca had to move somewhere else temporarily, why were they sleeping in separate beds when they’re a couple?
When we saw that he was a radio talkshow host, he seems to have a complete personality change, basically being the equivalent of LBC. But then, no-one in this is a likeable character.
As for that mysterious call from Angela, it’s rather predictable that she and he would be having an affair.
This Twitter user summed things up pretty well:
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UPDATE Episode 2:
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Clearly, Angela is rather unhinged – since he thinks she’ll spill the beans about the murder and the fact she and Sam are having an affair, but then no-one in this is particularly likeable.
It got ridiculous when Mr Khalil found a mysterious number on his son’s phone, but rather than trust the police to investigate it, he wants Karen to do is instead, even though she’s not part of the actual investigation team, and will actually have visits all day to other members of the public, rather than having the time to play detective.
Meanwhile, Fitz told Becca that he knew that the police knew they were lying about what happened with the burglar. But how would he know? And who would listen to the word of an unshaven bum like him? Apparently, her journo skills have sussed out a story that shows how dodgy he is – must be something I’ve missed, as I didn’t gather anything about that before. None of this makes any sense.
At one point while at work, Karen took a call from her mum, and tells her, “I thought you’d be watching Neighbours?”, getting in a quick plug for another show on Channel 5 😉
So, this episode didn’t really advance things much further.
Tonight, Craig Darcy had an interesting point…
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UPDATE Episode 3:
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Angela getting clocked on the head and being pushed off a cliff was hilarious. So, now, I’m just watching this for the comedy value, especially given the fact that no-one saw… and after that happened, I thought – I bet she ‘comes back from the dead’.
When Mr Khalil told Karen he’d worked out who the mysterious name on his son’s phone is, she should’ve just told him that she wasn’t getting involved any further. No-one would behave like that in the real world!
Then it just felt like the plot was being made up as it went along, without any form of coherency, when it turned out Fitz knew Becca as a teenager, she being the girl who hid in caves.
And don’t even get me started on how it got even more ridiculous, as Sally pursued the living burglar… As she said, “What the fuck am I doing?”
And here’s the tweet of the day…
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UPDATE Episode 4:
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The finale made no sense with setting up her husband to die in the cave? That moment when Becca and Fitz put a couple of rocks into place, which somehow Sam couldn’t push out of the way, stretched as much credibility as ‘Robin Hood’ drowning in the lake, after swimming a few strokes, in The Drowning!
And what about the entrance? Couldn’t he find the place he crawled through, just a few minutes earlier? You’d give it a go, for sure! There’s NO WAY that could’ve been covered up! But still, Sam would rather just lie down and die? Then again, maybe we can try locking up a few LBC presenters in there, now? 😉
Throughout the production, there were a number of scenes which looked like they were filmed during lockdowns, as everyone’s positioned about two miles apart in the same house. That’s always amusing to notice.
Plus, at the end, it appeared that Karen chucked her job in just so she could lord it over Becca for five minutes? Do me a favour.
And several class tweets…
https://twitter.com/jacqui_archer/status/1380260735419301898
https://twitter.com/theoldhamlass/status/1380254913452728321
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In addition, from Monday April 12th, because Warwick Davies hasn’t been too well lately, a number of new Tenable episodes have been hosted by Sally Lindsay.
Intruder begins on Easter Monday (Monday April 5th) on Channel 5 at 9pm. It is not yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD.
If you miss it, you can watch the each episode on My5 after transmission.
Intruder – Official Trailer – Channel 5 Drama
Episode 1 Score: 4/10
Episode 2 Score: 3/10
Episode 3 Score: 3/10
Episode 4 Score: C’mon, man!
Director: Gareth Tunley
Producer: Julie Ryan
Writer: Gareth Tunley
Creators/Writer: Gareth Tunley, Mike Benson
Music: Waen Shepherd
Cast:
Becca: Elaine Cassidy
Sam: Tom Meeten
Angela: Helen Behan
Karen Bailey: Sally Lindsay
Inspector Lilley: Simon Coury
Haalim: Kris Dosanjh
Fitz: Seamus Moran
Syed: Sonny Poon Tip
Ben: Paul Tylak
Eugenius: Dmitry Vinokurov
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.
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