The Five

This is an entertaining murder mystery/crime type of thriller. The acting is mostly good, and it's well made. The writing gets just downright silly sometimes, though, so don't expect a believable story. The music and sound are grating and annoying: imagine the most annoying pop songs you can think of, and The Five makes painfully long scenes as music videos for them, and the director had a thing for high pitched feedback noises, which are used infuriatingly often. The show was enjoyable enough for me to turn down the sound when these squeaks and horrible, horrible music came on. I'll likely forget it a few days after I've finished it though because it's little more than a hodge podge of crime, old secrets, friends-since-childhood drama, and mystery.

I regard myself as an exacting and selective viewer of crime series/dramas - although I have seen hundreds of them, both "old" ones with a crime per episode, and "modern" ones where cases and participants intertwine and 1-2 cases dominate the whole series.

Following the Scandinavians, the Brits have found the latter's perks as well, and when based on a solid author's works (here: Harlan Coben), the result is versatile and pleasing. References to the past, mysterious events then and now, plot of several levels, realistic characters and - last but not least - performed by a cast as a team (still, I would spotlight Tom Cullen, Lee Ingleby, Michael Maloney, Geraldine James) makes The Five one of the most captivating crime series in recent years. As the scenes passed smoothly and mysteries were logically substantiated, then even the "sweet", "non-British" ending did not impair my general opinion of this series.

And as I did not guess the real thing behind this DNA issue, I can easily give my 8 strong points and recommend it to all those fond of mystery thrill without the helping hand of a vigilante or superhero.

Finally finished watching this with my partner and what a superb ending (don't worry, no spoilers!). With the exception of the nonsensical notion that the main characters, despite not being policeman and worse, being witness to the crime in question, are constantly allowed to be involved in the investigation, this series was perfect...

An excellent story (I shall have to pick up a couple of Harlan Coben novels I think), incredible acting across the whole cast, a great soundtrack, well-rounded characters, superb casting (especially where different actors were required for the same characters 20 years apart). I could go on, but in short, if you haven't started this already, do! It's still available on Sky/Now TV Box Sets at the time of writing.

It's shows like this and Utopia which so many US TV shows (which seem to get all the plaudits) really should take note of. No dragging out of episodes where you wait 6 episodes just to get 1 new piece of information. No leaving cliffhangers at the end of the 1st series to leave it open for a 2nd. None of this 'oh well you've got to get through the first 2 seasons, but then it gets good, honestly'. Just a perfect one off series which is rounded off properly and if anything moves a little too quickly. Seriously, each episode contains the equivalent of around 3 'US season finale' type moments, you'll find yourself rewinding just to make sure you'd seen things right.

I love this show. Great cast, scripts, directing, the whole ball of w. All the twists and turns and things you expect.

My one and only problem is the sound editing and music. I guess that's really two problems. The music is...well, it's just bad. But it's also really loud. This is a perennial joke in the music business: "How was the band?" "They were awful. But at least they were really loud!"

But that's bearable. What is unbearable is the recurring, ear-splitting 2.7Khz tone that keeps floating in and out. If you have tinnitus, be wary when watching this show. Watch it! But watch out. Especially with headphones. That tone is goddawful. I can still hear it shrieking around in my head.

Otherwise, fantastic.

I enjoyed this drama, its not usually my kind of thing,but I liked the cast ,especially Sarah Solemani and O.T. Fagbenle who played Danny Kenwood they did a good job in this series. I felt sorry for Danny as his dad was a bit of a trouble maker! Overall the story was good but it did get a bit confusing in the middle with what slade had done in my opinion.

The last two episodes were real eye openers,and i loved the ending !

I really didn't suspect who the missing boy actually was......

What I can't believe is that when there were 6 reviews on here for this series, 5 were bad !!

i'm glad there's now some more positive reviews me being one ! so overall a good series, with a great cast and mystery being solved.