User reviews

Great cast, but what an utterly miserable story with no redeeming features at all. Dull, slow, dark in both mood and decor, pretty unbelievable and pointlessly drawn out, it just made me feel like l'd had a murder in the family and the in-laws were staying over to revel in their misery.

Sorry, didn't even make it to the end.

There's far better drama out there, which doesn't leave you feeling the world is utterly horrible and death is round the corner every step of the way.

Sean Pertwee is far better than this sort of thing, though was well cast. In fact the whole cast was good, it was the script and direction that let it down.

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.

Just in one of the multiple totally annoying advert breaks of episode 2. Who actually buys anything from these horrific adverts as I never have. Our lives are dominated by damn advertising.

The acting in this is good, so far everyone has been top notch. The story telling is good too but the fact is it's the same format as every other Channel 5 drama.

This story almost identically parallels the other one recently "Coma".

They are totally unrealistic and you find yourself shouting at the screen from the total disbelief of the choices made by the lead actor.

I realise that dramatic license is important but this just treats the viewer as low IQ.

I'll no doubt watch it to the end of its run as in this miserable country there's nothing else on anyway.

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.

Put simply: this series is a real treat. It's well made. Brilliantly acted. Perfectly scripted. And beautifully photographed.

Both Robert Glenister & Sean Pertwee are on top form. The connection between the two actors and their characters is excellent. The dynamism is magic.

The story is a perfect length. At 4 episodes the miniseries is just long enough without being dragged on and on. And as over-lengthening - or over-shortening - is a common flaw in modern dramas, this ideal length was a sign of good editing.

The storyline is credible. As are the lead characters. The plot's development is realistic, the characters' backstories are sufficiently fleshed out, and the lead-up to the finale is well paced. We believe the two leads' pain and how they each got where they are.

Other good points: The minor characters are all scoped out well. There is no spurious box-ticking. Even the incidental music is on point. The characters are written as human - i_e_ making crass mistakes - but, as imperfect is how human beings are, this is what we need to see.

The storyline references modern issues: school teachers' stress, kids' peer pressure, social media hassle, binge-drinking, generational differences, ex-military PTSD, loneliness. I challenge any series to give a viewer more in a range of issues with which to identify.

Seeing two characters in their maturity/middle age - and actors of their performance magnitude - play off each other on screen, is a template for TV dramas. And as Channel 5 all too often rolls out dramas that verge upon dross, this series belies the pattern. The series lifts up the channel in my estimation. And to great heights. It shows us what a production unit can do when the team put their mind to it.

I see TV awards in the offing . . .

If you fancy hours and hours and hours of unrelenting misery then this is for you! There's absolutely nothing positive, nothing uplifting about this. The moral of the story is we're all horrible, the world is horrible, life is horrible.

Writer Nick Saltrese is clearly talented and has put together a well scripted and tense story but why! Why impose this unnecessarily negative reflection of humanity upon us? You can't trust anyone, your friends will betray you seems to be the message.

Set in Liverpool, focussing on night workers it's clearly been inspired by the wonderful THE RESPONDER but lacks that excellent series' depth of emotion and dark humour. What it also lacks is any believability. Mr Saltrese may have based this story of events he is familiar with but I just couldn't believe it. Even as a completely broken man, that the teacher/taxi driver would invest all his trust in the radio DJ seems impossible.

Sadly i will not get these three hours back. The premise was fine but the plot had more holes than a string vest and was poorly written, a bit of an insult to anyones intelligence.

On the plus side i thought that Sean Pertwee did his best. The main character was Tony who was supposed to be an ex head teacher but appeared incapable of making any sensible decisions which was not believable but none of it was believable on any level.

As a character study it was not particularly good and you just wanted to give Tony a good shake.

The whole thing was so slow and depressing.

Fed up with these pointless grim psychological thrillers which you forget almost immediately.

It would be difficult to have a spoiler alert on any review as little happens. Remember me not to get a taxi in Liverpool !

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.

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.

Wow!

Considering this was made for Channel 5 this was brilliant.

Robert Glenister is an underrated actor. What he is doing on Channel 5 is gard to comprehend. Unlike his bother a Philip who does more joker roles as a rule, Robert tends to stick to hard res and it is obvious that he got into his teeth with this one.

Sean Pertwee does seem to just play himself in his roles and looks more and more like his dad as Jon as he ages (doctor who I am thinking of not worzel gummidge) I liked Suzanne Packer here too but she always okays the supporting role but has a larger part here than in The Bay series 5 which I have just watched.

This was called The Night Caller in New Zealand and, overall, probably makes more sense than Black Cab.

Channel 5 have upped their game with Finders Keepers and Coma this year but this tops the lot apart from All Creatures Great And Small.

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.

I don't know why so many people on here are complaining about this being miserable and not much fun to watch.it's a dark thriller after all.if you are looking for a show filled with action sequences,this isn't for you.

The show,in my opinion benefits from the slow build up.it really gives the actors the chance to put in a gripping performance that has you hooked from the start.

Sean Pertwee is excellent as per usual and Glenister absolutely steals the show with his amazingly emotional performance.

Great acting from the whole cast and I feel sorry for the people who didn't make it to the heartbreaking end.if you can't be bothered to watch something in it's entirety because the show isn't the type of thing you expected,you shouldn't leave a negative review.

There are many poor reviews for this programme and everyone is entitled to their opinion. If you want action this is not for you. On the other hand if you want a believable plot full of tension about a man at the end of his tether then I recommend it. Both principal actors Sean Pertwee and especially Robert Glenister give wonderful performances in this superbly written drama about an ex teacher who is now driving a cab for a living. We don't know why he lost his job but it has deeply affected him. He finds comfort and support when he calls the Night Caller radio call-in programme. Gradually his problems are revealed but his troubles increase.

Just lately there has seen a spate of four part dramas on channel five, with its fair to say mixed results. The Night Caller staring the excellent Robert Glenister and Sean Pertwee is a psychological thriller set in Liverpool.

Glenister plays a taxi driver who has recently lost his job as a school teacher due to a tragic accident he blames on himself. During his night shift he listens to the late night phone in on local radio, and believes he has found a soulmate in Pertwee who plays the Phone in's host.

What follows is pretty grim, as we see a man suffer a mental breakdown as he try's to come to terms with how his life has come to this point.

Overall a really well made, well written drama. More of the same please channel five. 8/10.