Vanishing act
Five things you need to know about thriller show The Five…
1 It’s bestselling author Harlan Coben’s first series
“I don’t want to make just a TV show,” reveals Coben ( Tell No One). “I want to make something legendary.” Collaborating with Brit screenwriter Danny Brocklehurst ( Clocking Off, Exile), Coben’s typically breathless 10-part thriller follows Mark (Tom Cullen), Pru (Sarah Solemani), Danny (O.T. Fagbenle) and Slade (Lee Ingleby), four friends still haunted by the disappearance of Mark’s younger brother Jesse 20 years ago. When Jesse’s DNA is discovered at a crime scene, the impossible looks plausible. “The Five is a story of hope and possible redemption,” Coben explains. “Hope can lift you up or crush your heart like an eggshell.”
2 The past infects the present
With all four friends pursuing careers reflecting their guilt over Jesse – Mark is a lawyer, Danny a copper, Pru a doctor and Slade runs a shelter – they must face longburied demons. “It’s as much about unravelling grief and guilt as finding out what’s happened,” says Cullen. “Mark learns how his history and his past construct who he is, and how brittle that is.” Danny, as investigating officer, has to walk a tightrope. “He’s professional, but there’s also a sense of personal culpability,” says Fagbenle. “Danny’s dad was involved in the original investigation and someone has been imprisoned for Jesse’s murder, so there’s a sins-of-the-father thing going on. It’s dark, but fantastic fun to play.”
3 The twists and turns will keep you guessing
Coben’s legendary facility with cliffhangers and curveballs led to the production being codenamed Project Hook. “Only three scripts were finished when I got the job, which was so annoying,” laughs Cullen. “I was desperate to know what happened. The whole series is set over two or three weeks, but each episode packs in so much plot, it’ll fry your brain.”
4 The visuals go against the grain of the cop drama
Standing in for the fictional town of Westbridge is Liverpool, picked when Coben asked for the British equivalent of his native New Jersey’s tougher districts. Unusually, the same director was in place for all 10 episodes. “It’s been brutal,” admits Mark Tonderai, but the decision pays off in spades: there’s a visual dynamism, crispness and consistency unusual in British TV. Coben’s advocacy of bright colours over rain and trenchcoats, however, left Tonderai in a dilemma. “It wasn’t a story that lent itself to that for me,” he explains. “It’s about things that are broken, so I decided to break up the framing. No one is ever in the camera’s crosshairs, everyone is either left or right or low or high until the final episode, when characters move toward the middle of the shot.”
5 The reveal won’t disappoint
“Only 12 people in the world know the ending,” grins Cullen. “And I’m one of them! You won’t feel cheated in any way.” Fagbenle agrees, citing TV’s great fudged ending as a counterpoint. “All your questions will get answered,” he promises. “It’s not like Lost. Every loose end gets tied up in a really satisfying way.” Most satisfied, unsurprisingly, is Coben himself. “I get emotional every time I see something that was in my head come to life in a scene. It’s exactly the show I wanted it to be.”
ETA | april The Five begins this month on Sky 1.