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The Cuckoo sees Jessica Haynes (Claire Goose) looking for a house guest, even though they’re clearly quite affluent. Well, they have bills aplenty, and nutty Sian Gregson (Jill Halfpenny – Inside No.9) comes a-knocking at the same time when the collectors do with an envelope full of cash. Hmm… that’s convenient.
Of course, Jessica didn’t hear the doorbell, because they’re rewiring the house at present, so the bell doesn’t work. Erm… just get an infra-red one? That’s what I did a long time ago. Battery-free, too. Press it, it clicks, and that causes the bell to ring. So much easier, and you know there’s no battery to run out!
For reasons to be explained, Jess’ husband, Nick (Lee Ingleby – The Long Shadow, along with Ms Halfpenny) clearly has a bit of a chip on his shoulder with Sian, being all grumpy at the fact she’s there, even though she helped them out of a fiduciary mess at the right time.
The family have a typical teenage daughter full of angst, and since Jess has a strained relationship with her, you just know from the trailer that Sian’s going to put her sticky beak in there, too, as well as everywhere else, to the point where you can twig she’ll become about as welcome as Michael Keaton in Pacific Heights (yes, an old film from 1990, but it was brilliant!)
Oh, and that bit when Sian threw away a decent fry-up? Is she mad? Looked very tasty! 😛
Based on what I saw in the trailer below, at least the kitchen cupboard survives another day…
In The Cuckoo, the first of these four-parters are always about the set-up, with the meat of the drama coming into the rest of them, as the main characters go completely batshit mental. Let’s hope they get something reasonably entertaining out of this, such as the recent Coma, and not the week before’s ridiculous Love Rat.
There were also a few amusing tweets I noticed, some which might be spoilery, so click below if you want to read them.
Further updates will be posted after each subsequent episode has aired.
UPDATE Episode 2:
UPDATE Episode 3:
UPDATE Episode 4:
The Cuckoo continues tomorrow on Channel 5 at 9pm, and runs for four episodes, up until Thursday this week.
After each episode, they’ll also be available to watch on My5.
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.
Director: Brian O’Malley
Producers: Emma Foley, Tamryn Reinecke
Writer: David Turpin
Creators: Barunka O’Shaughnessy, Mike Benson
Music: Steve Lynch, “The Cuckoo” sung by Niamh Regan
Cast:
Sian Gregson: Jill Halfpenny
Nick Haynes: Lee Ingleby
Jessica Haynes: Claire Goose
Alice Haynes: Freya Hannah-Mills
Aunt Fay: Marjorie Yates
Audrey: Emily Healy
Sandra: Maeve Fitzgerald
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.