The Couple Next Door is a new Channel 4 thriller which looks, from the trailer, like everyone’s up to no good.
Evie (Eleanor Tomlinson – The Outlaws) and Peter (Alfred Enoch) move in to what the latter refers to as Desperate Housewives-style neighbourhood, and he’s not far off the truth, given what the rather gregarious neighbours – Danny (Sam Heughan – SAS: Red Notice) and Becka (Jessica De Gouw – The Portable Door) – get up to behind closed doors.
Meanwhile, the trailer shows Alan (Hugh Dennis – No Time To Die) playing with his telescope – and that’s not a euphemism – and it’s safe to say that it has a very useful zoom lens…
I’ve only seen the first episode so far, and I don’t want to give away what happens, obviously, but in what little I can divulge, the newbies are expecting a child, while Peter is also working for a local paper, wanting to cover a story about a dodgy chap called Robbie Spencer, some of the reasons for which will come about in the first episode.
Meanwhile, cop Danny gets a job offer that’ll be worth a lot of money for so little work, so that’s clearly as dodgy as a very dodgy thing.
However, so far, this just appears to be Rich People’s Problems, where everyone seems to fancy everyone else, and it feels – very much – a case of style over substance.
When broadcast, I did watch the a second episode, but I wasn’t encouraged to carry on.
The Couple Next Door is on Channel 4 from tomorrow at 9pm, and from midnight the whole series will be on All 4.
The series is not yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD.
Direcor: Dries Vos
Producer: Jennifer Burnet
Writer: David Allison
Music: Hannes De Maeyer
Cast:
Evie: Eleanor Tomlinson
Peter: Alfred Enoch
Danny: Sam Heughan
Becka: Jessica De Gouw
Alan: Hugh Dennis
Jean: Kate Robbins
Gary: Joel Morris
Gloria: Janine Duvitski
Sophie: Ioanna Kimbook
Olly: Daniel Bell
Lena: Deirdre Mullins
Robbie Spencer: Mark Frost
Brian: Andrew Woodall
Susan: Anastasia Hille
Rachel: Katie Clarkson-Hill
Ethan: Noah Holdsworth
Headmistress Jas Atha: Stephanie Street
Sgt. Paula McGinn: Clare Burt
Molly: Ellie Lucia Mcardle
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.