Five Days

Entertainment WeeklyGillian Flynn

The sheer number of plotlines can be overwhelming, but the images--flowers dropped on the side of the road, a dusty van sliding away--are relentlessly riveting. And the series only gets better from here. [5 Oct 2007, p.66]

Hollywood ReporterRay Richmond

This mini holds you in its thrall from beginning to end, and the twists along the way are seemingly endless. A riveting ride, indeed.

San Jose Mercury NewsCharlie McCollum

This BBC-produced series has some of the best writing and acting you're likely to see this season.

New York MagazineJohn Leonard

With a calculation of word and image that’s almost elegant, Five Days gives us sociology and anthropology instead of shock and awe.

TV GuideMatt Roush

I watched with an escalating sense of dread, but still was unprepared for the powerful twists along the way.

LA WeeklyRobert Abele

What's unusually gripping about Five Days is that its tension isn’t derived from depicting the majority of its cast as shifty-eyed suspects, but rather as floundering, flawed human beings unsure of how to move on with their lives.

Los Angeles TimesRobert Lloyd

The strength of the series lies not in the whodunit elements--it isn't hard to work out who's behind it, even if it isn't immediately apparent why--but in its eye for local details and small human gestures.

Philadelphia Daily NewsEllen Gray

While the acting's first rate, it's the mystery that drives Five Days.

The New York TimesAlessandra Stanley

Five Days, made by the BBC and HBO, is riveting because it weaves the most familiar milestones of a major homicide investigation--the news conferences, police interrogations and family meltdowns--into a less predictable and intricately layered narrative that averts clichés without diluting the suspense.

Detroit Free PressMike Duffy

The ensemble cast, including David Oyelowo, Edward Woodward ("The Equalizer") and Janet McTeer, is first rate. A winner.

Boston GlobeMatthew Gilbert

Written by Gwyneth Hughes, the script perhaps reaches too far and falls short. The whole is somehow less than the sum of its parts. And yet Five Days rewards with enough gripping moments to make it worth investigating.

VarietyStaff (Not Credited)

By the end of night one, however, the show grows intriguing, and the second and third episodes are more engrossing. Then episode four begins to drag, and the fifth hour feels like filler until the inevitable reveal, which, alas, isn't equal to the build-up.