Knock At The Door is the third of four Play For Today episodes, and gives us Alan Davies (Jonathan Creek) as former comedian Lenny Bray, with some footage of Davies, himself, on stage when he was younger, since he’s been doing that line of work for a fair while.
In the present day, the papers claim he’s been having it away, and while they’re distracted from that, they get… a knock at the door, and there’s a man outside, covered in blood.
Now, I’d call him an ambulance (“You’re an ambulance!”), and I wouldn’t pull someone in who’s all bloodied, partly because of the mess, and partly because it could be a stunt, allowing someone else to jump me and demand anything they like.
I will discuss the episode a bit below, so if you haven’t seen it yet, and are planning to, then go watch that first.
Sadly, this one-off drama quickly turns into obvious nonsense, with the lad, Ben (Logan Mersh), tying up Lenny and his wife, Maggie (Nikki Amuka-Bird – Knock at the Cabin), because he’s angry at his own parents.
Knock At The Door has got every cliché in the book, around inviting someone in… they terrorise you… the script throws misdirection in your face, and after how good Never Too Late and Big Winners were, why on Earth was this one greenlit?!
And as for the way it ends, I was absolutely confused.Dom!
I watched this episode before it airs – and my review has gone out AFTER it was shown – but I’ll need to see what other people make of it, online.
Play For Today concludes next Thursday, on Channel 5 at 9pm.
It’s not yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD, but when it is, it will be listed on the New DVD, Blu-ray, 3D and 4K releases UK page.
If you miss it when broadcast, you can watch the each episode after broadcast on My5.
Director: Daniel Rands
Producer: Michelle Antoniades
Writer/Creator: David Whitehouse
Music: Ian Livingstone
Cast:
Lenny: Alan Davies
Maggie: Nikki Amuka-Bird
Ben: Logan Mersh
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.