By Curt Schleier
What makes FIVE DAYS so fascinating and a cut above typical American mysteries is its leisurely pace. FIVE DAYS is a BBC production, and unlike here in the colonies, the Brits don’t seem to be in a Slam Bam, Arrest You Ma’am rush. So while there is certainly a high level of tension throughout, it is very much character driven, as the show examines the impact of the crime on the people around it, the family of the victim, the police and the hangers on who somehow expect to profit from the events.
The show concentrates of five days of a two-and-a-half-month investigation, hence its name. On day one, an attractive woman, Leanne Wellings, disappears. Her two children, a boy 7, his younger sister and their dog wander off in search of her and are picked up apparently by a pedophile, Kyle Betts (Rory Kinnear), a loner who lives with his mother. When the first episode ends, a young woman Sarah Wheeler (Sarah Smart) opens her garage and finds the boy.
By day three, the media has labeled her a hero, although frankly I’m not sure how lifting a garage door qualifies someone as heroic. But just a taste of media attention goes to Sarah’s head. She tries to insinuate herself in the investigation and into the Wellings’ lives, invading their home and offering unasked for advice. Kind of a white Al Sharpton, if you know what I mean.
The media gets its comeuppance. Josh Fairley (Al Weaver) a rookie reporter for a local weekly, finds the missing daughter Rosie Wellings (Tyler Anthony). He races to get a photo taken with the young girl so he can email it to a larger paper in exchange for a job offer. In his tabloid rush, however, he misses the scoop of a lifetime – the arrest of the man you kidnapped Rosie.
Meanwhile the police are struggling with the case and its public relations implications. For one thing, the Wellings are a mixed race couple. Det. Supt, Barclay (Hugh Bonneville) who heads the investigation, tells a superior “He (husband Matt Wellings) just happens to be black. There’s no race angle.” But his boss disagrees: “Yes there is.”
Meanwhile, Matt is reluctant to participate in a press conference. “You want me to stand in front of the camera and cry for them. All the time, everyone’s saying it’s him, none times out of 10, the husband did it.”
He agrees because it soon becomes clear that the media is important than the investigation. When Josh asks a snarky question – did Matt know that his wife was pregnant – Matt storms out (revealing a nasty temper) and leaving the press conference to his mother-in-law.
In one of the most moving moments you’re likely to see on TV, Barbara Poole (Penelope Wilton) says she hopes her daughter ran away and abandoned her children. Her logic is clear. The alternative is that she was kidnapped and likely dead. Then she let’s out a heart-piercing and anguished scream.
Certainly there is the option that she ran away. There were difficulties in the Wellings household. “Leanne has walked out on me before,” Matt admits. “But she’s always come back. We’ve always made up.”
The East European flower seller who had the roadside stand where Leanne disappeared is finally apprehended. It is unlikely that he will have much to add since the next episode is day 28.