The Night Caller

Teacher turned taxi driver Tony builds an unusual obsession with nighttime radio host Lawrence, when Tony commits a heinous crime, he turns to Lawrence for guidance and support.

There are definitely a group of reviewers that simply want to hate on Channel 5 dramas, I question why bother watching them, I've called out the bad ones, and praised thr good ones, this is definitely a good one.

I really did enjoy this one, well paced, tense and intriguing, we're given several questions, all of which are answered in the excellent final episode.

It got better after it went on, the first episode is a little slow, but it got better and better as it progressed, I loved the final episode.

The best performance I've seen from Robert Glenister for a while, he was terrific here, matched by the excellent Sean Pertwee, a voice perfect for radio, thank goodness he's such a good actor.

8/10.

Can't believe this isn't getting better reviews and more praise. Stunning performance from Glenister in particular. You can see every drop of pain and confusion, despair in his performance. His face. If that is what acting is, conveying all of this with a look, he is some actor indeed. Pertwee is excellent as the somewhat immoral, selfish radio dj who just pretends to care, but even he is overshadowed by Glenister. Some excellent support in supporting roles, but this is largely a two header. Something rather different. Quite a sad, hard watch. Channel 5 proving they can turn out some top quality drama.

Black Cab earns ten stars from me based on Robert Glenister's outstanding performance as Tony. He captures perfectly the pain that a person in his position would suffer, and the intensity of his facial expressions gave me chills. This series won't leave you laughing for sure but will hopefully touch your heart. Suzanne Packer as Rosa, Sean Pertwee as Lawrence, and Stephen Walters as Rob also deserve recognition for the portrayals of their respective characters. Some viewers might find things move a bit slowly and I might agree to an extent. Overall, however, I found Black Cab excellent and very moving.

The negative reviews don't understand the fact that Tony is such an accurately drawn character of a teacher who is no longer needed. I've not watched it all yet,and if it ends with his character doing something dubious it's cheap drama that doesn't really explore the normality of life at the wrong end of the spectrum, but if it takes that slice of normality and runs with it we could be seeing something a little interesting and a lot realistic, now before I go on I've got to lay my cards on the table and say that while I have just retired, I've never felt happier and think teaching is a great profession, although people often face the large sacrifices being made.

Glenister and Pertwee are absolutely superb in this dark drama about depression and deception. Other very good performances from some faces you'll recognise too. I don't recall seeing Pertwee before but his voice was just fantastic as the radio host.

Yes some found it slow but some of the best of the genre from the likes of Hitchcock built slowly and exploded at the end. It doesn't need to be a thrill a minute gore-fest car crash to be a great drama which this is.

The night time darkness adds to this study of haunting depression, guilt and hopelessness. The simple but basic locations were just right too.

Glenister's face and Pertwee's voice deserve special mention..

Lots of parallels drawn with Taxi Driver but Play Misty for Me was a big memory for me.