This week Channel 5 is airing Intruder, a four-part drama about a home invasion that goes terribly wrong.
The show starts with high-flying couple Sam and Rebecca enjoying a night in at home when they are disturbed by two teenage burglars - and in the chaos that follows, Sam ends up killing one of them.
The pair then stage a cover-up to make it look as if it was self-defence, but their version of events is questioned by family liaison officer Bailey, played by Sally Lindsay.
Sam and Rebecca have clearly taken things too far - but is Channel 5 also guilty of a crime? Scroll on to find out what the TV critics have had to say about Intruder!
Radio Times
A daft and predictable thriller with nothing meaningful to say: "It's hardly an original premise but with the right execution this could have been a serviceable, if not hugely memorable, crime drama. Alas, the script is utterly daft and disappointingly predictable with two of the biggest twists visible from a mile away... The script only gets sillier as the story unfolds with no compelling mysteries or character growth to cling onto, culminating in an underwhelming conclusion that leaves certain themes and plot threads not fully resolved."
the i
This thriller feels like a play – and not a good one: "The latest in Channel 5's never-ending parade of thrillers, Intruder, felt more like a play than a TV show. Not a West End must-see, though; more a production by the local am-dram society you're guilt-tripped into watching because your brother's girlfriend's sister plays the lead."
Evening Standard
Channel 5's bungled burglary thriller is a clanger: "Like the woefully amateur burglars who set things in motion, everything about Intruder feels bungled or badly thought through, and lots of it is just plain bad... The characters are so thinly drawn that the show doesn't earn its onslaught of hysterical twists and turns – there's just not enough context given to justify their ridiculous behaviour. Initially, it's quite comical, but eventually, it just gets annoying."
The Guardian
Sally Lindsay stars in thriller that quickly turns high farce: "There is no humour in the script or anyone's faces. But somehow constant comic undertones persist, as inescapable as they are intangible. The restaging scene is about three degrees off farce... Lindsay is a fine actor, but she is best known for comedy dramas because that is what is in her bones. She looks permanently ready to have a laugh, to find the light in the darkness. But here she is cast as a kind of earnest earth mother-cum-Sherlock Holmes figure and the disconnect throws things yet further out of kilter."
The Arts Desk
Implausible but watchable: "Channel 5 is rather partial to its four-night dramas, though recent effort The Drowning seemed to have sneaked unseen past the quality control department on its way to the screen. It pulled in the viewers though, and Intruder will probably do the same. It isn't King Lear, but it's got enough going on to keep you watching."
Intruder continues tonight at 9pm on Channel 5.
Neil Wilkes
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