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Product Description: A mother Leanne vanishes into thin air. Her children abandoned in her car also go missing. As police search for clues over three gut-wrenching months the Leanne's husband and family learn that nobody's quite what they seem. Everyone is a suspect. In the end five days prove critical in solving the case in this five-part five-hour thriller.Running Time: 300 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/HBO UPC: 026359446320 Manufacturer No: 1000037104 Amazon.com: An ordinary afternoon turns into a 79-day nightmare in this absorbing, if leisurely-paced BBC/HBO co-production. Leanne (Christine Tremarco), a mother of three, leaves her youngest children in the car while she buys flowers for a relative. In a flash, she's gone. Her mercurial husband, Matt (David Oyelowo), and teenage daughter, Tanya (Lucinda Dryzek), from a previous marriage, call in the authorities. Superintendent Barclay (Hugh Bonneville), Sergeant Foster (Janet McTeer), and Officer Farnes (Nikki Amuka-Bird) take charge of the case, while the missing woman’s parents, Barbara and John (Penelope Wilton and Patrick Malahide), help out around the house. Slowly but surely, several potential suspects come into view. With each episode representing a different day, this five-part series weaves an intricate web. Like the BBC's State of Play, but on a more intimate scale, each group is in opposition against the other. That includes reporters, co-workers--even an innocent bystander gets caught up in the commotion. Race complicates matters further, since Leanne is white and Matt is black. In the end, though, character takes precedence over all other concerns. While the acting is up to the BBC's usual high standards, MI-5’s Oyelowo deserves special mention as a man coping with every kind of pressure. The two-disc set concludes with "Behind the Mystery," in which writer Gwyneth Hughes discusses the thinking behind her script. --Kathleen C. Fennessy Customer Reviews: Rating: 
Date: 2008-09-08
This started a trend for me.
Film is one of my passions. Because of that, the inevitable snobbery comes into play. Now I watch every Brit program that I can find. Their stories appear simple at the outset, then intrigue, complications, and whip-smart dialogue take over. This series nails it.
You can glean the story line from the other reviews, I'd just like to say I watched the whole thing in one sitting. It is that good. Rating:
Date: 2008-07-31
Terrific mini-series
The other reviewers did an excellent job of summarizing Five Days, so I won't do that again. I will just say how much I enjoyed the show and how excellent the acting was. My daughter and her fiance also thoroughly enjoyed this show and was glad I purchased it. I highly recommend watching it. Rating:
Date: 2008-06-23
FIVE DAYS HBO miniseries
I enjoy all HBO miniseries so sure this will be good. But I've not had time to watch it yet. Summer time I'm very busy! Rating: 
Date: 2008-03-26
Riveting HBO/BBC Miniseries... Young Mother Disappears in Broad Daylight... Excellent DVD
Agree with all the previous reviews. This is an excellent and riveting miniseries from HBO/BBC. It centres around the mysterious disappearance of a young mother who stops to buy flowers at a roadside stand. Gripping performances all round from an ensemble cast.
The search for the missing woman takes almost 3 months. The five days of the title refers to five separate days when crucial events occur in the investigation. It's very good on the police procedural aspect. Something you seldom find on TV is the show's spotlight on ancillary units like the police's public relations and liaison departments.
Aside from the central mystery, what I found fascinating about it was how it manages to touch on other tangential topics - multi-racial marriages, problems in stepfamilies, multi-generational families and the sorry state of British institutions today. It's nice to see a show poke fun at the many sore points ailing modern Britain - the need for absolute political correctness, the over-abundance of CCTV cameras monitoring every aspect of people's daily lives, the sorry state of policing, the much derided "Community Support Officers", ("plastic police" whose main job is to issue ASBOs - warning letters for criminals caught committing crimes), the presence of increasing numbers of foreigners, the outsourcing of government jobs (a key suspect escapes while in the custody of a private security contractor) and the dreaded NHS (National Health Service) where patients are left out in the corridors of overflowing hospitals like casualties in some Third World country.
Spread over 5 hours and 5 episodes, it remains riveting until near the end. The final episode does tend to drag at points. I'm not all that keen on the ending - the resolution seems to be have been plucked out of thin air, without much preparatory basis. It lacked dramatic flair - there was no "A-ha!" moment. It seemed to be simply tacked on to give the investigation a conclusion. That's borne out by the writer Gwyneth Hughes, who admits that she wrote the script as the filming was going on and that she didn't know until the last, how the story would end and who she would choose to be the eventual baddie. Taken as a whole however, it was a fascinating miniseries which had me glued to the screen almost to the end.
The DVD is in 1.78:1 widescreen (anamorphic) - not 1.66:1 as advertised by Amazon. Beautifully clear, sharp and accurate picture. Comes with optional English and Spanish subtitles in case the accents present a challenge. The only extra is a 13-minute interview with writer Gwyneth Hughes. May not be quite perfect but certainly well worth watching. Rating:
Date: 2008-03-09
...very good mini series.
I saw this on TV...five days in a row.
The above reviewer does a good job in reviewing this film.
No need for another description of the series. |
