Five Days
Encyclopedia
Five Days is a British dramatic television series produced by the BBC
in association with Home Box Office
(HBO). The first series was first broadcast on BBC One
from 23 January to 1 February 2007, and repeated on BBC Four
from 9 April to 13 April 2007.
The series follows five non-consecutive days (days 1, 3, 28, 33 and 79) of a police investigation into the disappearance of a young mother and her two children. It was written by Gwyneth Hughes and directed by Otto Bathurst and Simon Curtis. Music for the series was composed by Magnus Fiennes
.
A two-part spin-off called Hunter was broadcast on BBC One in January 2009. A second series of Five Days has been developed by the BBC and was broadcast on 1 March 2010 to 5 March 2010.
Leanne's husband Matt works at a local gym. It is here that several of the characters connect with each other: Press Officer Defne ignores loner Kyle as he tries to make a conversation. In another scene, Leanne's parents, Barbara and John are introduced. The family slowly learn of Leanne's disappearance, and that Rosie and Ethan are now missing too. Kyle seems to have picked them up in a white van. The police begin the investigation, but the Press Officer feels there is a lack of support, and the DSI in charge is relatively new in the position.
Matt's best friend, Gary, is about to retire, and complains of not having enough pension to live on. Matt gets him a job at the gym where he works, and the police recruit him to spy on Matt, paying him for information.
The police begin a house to house investigation. Meanwhile, Beam wakes up Sarah, who has jet-lag and is disorientated. On learning the time from Beam, she dashes out of her flat, and opens a shed door to dump her rubbish. There, crouching in the darkness, she finds Ethan, and the dog. Ethan says that he was supposed to look after Rosie. Sarah is seen as a heroine for finding him. Ethan tells the police that his dog bit a man, who had a dirty white van. Kyle's mother Hazel becomes suspicious of his actions. His hand is damaged, and he begins to wash his white van every day despite previously never washing it.
Meanwhile journalist Josh smells a story, and persuades his editor to run a picture of attractive Leanne on their front page. Josh's is a small local newspaper, and he wants to run a more exciting story than golden weddings. He publishes Leanne's picture, despite getting the brush off from Defne, who is trying to keep the story relatively low profile. Josh takes photos for the paper at the home where Vic, Leanne's grandfather, lives. Josh manages to converse with Vic about his granddaughter. He eventually persuades Vic to loan him the key to his mobile home, in order to gather clues and background details. However, when he arrives at the mobile home, he is astonished to discover Rosie on the bed seemingly unharmed. He calls the police and takes pictures for his paper and dashes off to his office, leaving Rosie with the neighbours. However, Josh doesn't see Kyle who, on arriving at the mobile home in his white van, is arrested by the police.
Defne eventually persuades Matt to give a press conference, and Barbara agrees to speak as well. The press conference doesn't go well, and Josh asks Matt if he knew that Leanne was pregnant, having acquired the information from her grandfather. Matt, clearly shaken, walks out. It is left to Barbara to appeal to whoever has any information about Leanne's whereabouts. At first, she is calm, then she gives in to a scream of panic and grief in front of everyone. After the debacle, DSI Barclay is rapped by his superior for not participating and supporting the press. He remains aloof, but agrees to help.
Sarah is finding it hard to let go of Leanne's family, and starts seeing them regularly. Sarah attempts to start a relationship with Matt, but he rebuffs her advances, telling her that they can only be friends. She is upset at this, and eventually tells him her own traumatic past, in which her father murdered her mother, Sarah was 5 at the time. This seems to explain her rather unbalanced behaviour since finding Ethan.
Tanya has left to live with Barbara and John and expresses her feelings of guilt to John. She tells him that she didn't want to visit Vic because his room smelt. Tanya feels that Leanne's disappearance would've never happened if she'd joined them. John tries to reassure her. Eventually Tanya goes to stay with her dad in France. The police have a lead that Leanne may have started seeing her ex- husband, but they haven't followed it up. Barclay is obsessed with following the flower seller, a Bosnian, who may have links with illegal immigration from Macedonia. This frustrates the rest of the team.
After 28 days, DSI Barclay comes under scrutiny from his superiors in the Met as he has no leads on the case at all. They are about to submit a report and are asking the team questions. His colleague Amy is frustrated that he hasn't named a suspect. She accuses him of refusing to name Matt as a suspect because he's black. However, Barclay's superiors ordered him to lay off Matt. Barclay denies this. Later a body is found in the woods by the dog shelter owner, whilst out walking his dogs. The body is identified as Branko, the Macedonian illegal immigrant who sold flowers from a van, the van Leanne was buying flowers from when she disappeared.
On day 33, it is August Bank Holiday. Defne is taking part in the fun run and Beam is there to support her. Josh is there to cover the event for the paper. Simone, Sarah and Matt take the children to the fun run. Matt becomes overwhelmed by the crowds and he and Sarah go to her flat, leaving the children and the dog with Simone. They have sex, despite Matt's reluctance. Suddenly a boater on the lake spots a body in the water. After several days it is confirmed that the body is Leanne's.
Amy is about to retire, and her colleagues throw a party for her. She drunkenly gives a speech about not missing her colleagues. However, she is actually terrified at the prospect of life without her work. Barclay takes her home and sobers her up. Before she retires, the forensic lab does her one last favour, they identify the fibres under Leanne's fingernails as carpet. It becomes apparent to Barclay that Leanne, desperate to give a clue to her would be rescuers, deliberately scraped up the fibres so that they would be found. It was also established that she was alive when she was dumped in the lake. John is admitted to a psychiatric hospital, following an overdose. Barclay had warned him about seeing Leanne's body after 5 weeks underwater, and he's traumatised. Only Tanya comes to visit him, her true feelings for her grandfather shows, mirroring her mum's devotion to Vic, despite her protestations of "who needs love, anyway?" Barbara is furious at John, and refuses to see him. Beam is irritated by the dog shelter man, who insists on confessing to killing Leanne.
Kyle is in court, he is remanded in custody despite his pleas that he was regularly beaten by other inmates in prison. The judge refuses to remand him to his mother. Kyle manages to escape from the police van that was taking him back to prison. He's hit by a car, but continues on his way, eventually ending up at Rosie and Ethan's house, where they're being cared for by Sarah. Rosie is delighted to see him, and gives him a hug. He disappears before Sarah comes out and finds the children.
Gary finds Kyle at the gym and beats him viciously, telling him to be quiet. Matt tells the others to call the police, and then locks himself in the locker room with Kyle and Gary, where he demands to know if Kyle hurt Rosie. Kyle insists that he didn't, and says that it was all an accident. He and Branko ran a smuggling scheme bringing in untaxed cigarettes, and storing them at Vic's mobile home. Vic had let them use it as a favour for Hazel, Kyle's mother, who worked at the nursing home and was the only person who was kind to Vic. When Leanne stopped to buy the flowers, Kyle was in the back of the flower van with cigarettes and illegal cash, Leanne then started to shout at Branko that his cancer sticks were killing her grandfather. Branko attempted to shut her up, and Leanne hit her head, and fell unconscious. Terrified, Branko and Kyle threw her in the back of the van and drove off. When she recovered consciousness, she was concerned about her children, so Kyle went to pick them up in his white van. Ethan and the dog jumped out, but he took Rosie back to Vic's mobile home, where Branko had taken Leanne. Kyle insists that it was too late, and Leanne died, so he took her body and put it in the lake.
Matt tells him that it wasn't too late, that Leanne drowned when Kyle dumped her in the lake. Kyle is horrified and turns to Gary and shouts "You said she was dead!" Matt understands that it was Gary who killed Leanne, and attacks him. The police break in and take them all away, but Kyle dies of his injuries inflicted by Gary. Gary is charged with the deaths of Leanne, Branko and Kyle. The final scene is Matt with his three children at Leanne's grave (with a smaller cross for her unborn baby). Sarah is nearby, but doesn't join the family as they walk away together.
In Australia, the Five Days miniseries was broadcast over 2 weeks on 2 and October9n ABC TV
under the title Hunter as a lead-in to the broadcast of this mini series, beginning 16 October.
in Wirksworth
, Derbyshire
was used to film the second series, entitled 'Five Days II', and starring Suranne Jones
, Anne Reid
, Bernard Hill
, Matthew McNulty
, Ashley Walters, David Morrissey
, Chris Fountain
, Nina Sosanya
and Derek Riddell
amongst others. The station at Wirksworth was turned into the fictional station of Castlebury in Yorkshire.
Many locations within West Yorkshire
and some in North Yorkshire
were used for filming: Many scenes were filmed at Wakefield Kirkgate railway station
with the main road approaching the station being closed for a period of time whilst a chase was filmed. A now demolished signal box, named 'Oakenshaw', which was located just down the line from Wakefield Kirkgate gets a mention within the programme. The public entrance and 6th floor interior (with genuine landscape views of Wakefield) of the HMRC Enquiry Centre, 'Crown House' on Kirkgate / Brunswick Street was turned into a police station for filming. Actors wearing high-vis police jackets with 'British Transport Police'
on the back were seen outside Crown House. A sign stating 'North Counties Constabulary' was seen outside Crown House and this is believed to be the name for the fictitious local police force, yet the British Transport Police is mentioned with its correct name. One of the main shopping areas, Kirkgate, was also a location for filming.
Brighouse railway station
was also seen in the opening scenes of the first episode with a Northern Rail
service seen arriving and then departing the station. Many exterior scenes, including Market and outside street scenes were filmed in Dewsbury
and Dewsbury Town Hall was also featured. The exterior shots of 'St. Mary's Hospital' is actually the exterior of the 'EC Stoner' Administration building of the University of Leeds
and the Mosque shown is actually the Northern School of Contemporary Dance on Louis Street, Chapeltown. Many of the Victorian housing stock seen on screen are Leeds streets filmed around Harehills
. All scenes involving the British Rail Class 101 Diesel Multiple Unit were filmed at the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway in Derbyshire. This type of train is no longer in service - the last serving unit was withdrawn in 2003. Certain scenes were set in Scarborough, due to a particular character being resident in the town. Wirksworth station was dressed up to be 'Castlebury' station and the Class 101 DMU had the fictitious 'Pennine Rail Express' livery applied to the interior and exterior of the train - the colours of which are of a similar style to those of the Northern Rail
train livery. Some Northern Rail
trains can be seen pulling out of stations and in the backgrounds when not central to the main action within a scene.
The second series was broadcast on BBC One from 1–5 March 2010.
Day two, Laurie discovers that Michael's blood group is Asian and although it is believed that the dead youth is the father, Michael's blood group does not match the deceased. However, the dead youth's finger-prints are found on the baby's pushchair, which Colly and Didi discover abandoned in the hospital grounds. It also contains a Muslim prayer for protection. Mal's son, who lives with his estranged wife, was playing by the railway lines, and recorded a video of his friend, and in the background, the video shows that the dead youth was actually pushed, at which point Laurie's superior, Supt Jim Carpenter, takes over the case. DC Bilal Choudry answers an appeal and names the corpse as an illegal Afghan immigrant, Farid, who was a drug-pusher, possibly killed in a gangland revenge. Laurie is surprised to find Jen bringing home Gerard, a man they met on the train. Nusrat - hopeful to adopt Michael - discovers her brother Khalil agitated and blood-stained.
Day 8, Michael falls ill, and is admitted to hospital. The diagnosis is suspected methadone withdrawal. There are no leads a week after the murder. A reconstruction of the murder is created and Muslim passenger Jamal Matthews accuses Laurie of inciting Islamophobia. An old lady alerts Laurie to the disappearance of her neighbours on the day of the murder - a man and two women. Farid's shoe is found in their car but was apparently also worn by someone else. Nusrat disowns Khalil to the adoption officer and soon afterwards their father, Ibra, finds images of Khalil with a Taliban-type group on his computer following Khalil's visit to Pakistan, allegedly to study. At the same time Khalil is meeting Jamal.
Day 37, Nick takes Michael home and confesses to Colly, his deceased wife's sister, that he wants to keep him, but Didi tells Colly a child needs a mother and Nusrat and Danny are suitable for the adoption. Khalil freaks out at a royal visit and is briefly arrested by Laurie, which angers Ibra. Ibra confronts Khalil about the photos found on the computer, to which Khalil replies that they were from the past and that he has changed. Pat meets former lover Maureen who reveals that she lived next to the old lady with her friend's daughter Katie, who now lives in Manchester. It transpires that Katie is Michael's mother, and the father is Farid, but it is revealed that Farid wasn't the dead youth's name. Farid is in fact, the dead youth's brother, who turns up. Jen and Gerry bond as he goes with her to hospital, where her condition is re-diagnosed as physical degeneration and not Alzheimer's. Laurie and Mal also bond but as Pat takes Maureen to the police to explain her innocence, Mal is hit by a car whilst pursuing Sohel, one of the train passengers.
Two months later, Laurie, still traumatised from the accident that killed Mal, learns that Jen and Gerry are engaged. Maureen, having told the police that she was on the bridge when the youth jumped but did not push him, moves in with Pat. Farid, Michael's real father, is preparing to collect Michael from Nick and promises to raise him with the aid of Maureen. However Maureen kidnaps Michael and takes him to Katie, who wants nothing to do with Michael. She returns to Pat, confessing that she shopped Farid for drug-dealing, causing his brother to jump from the bridge as he was left on his own. Laurie discovers that Pat has pushed Maureen over the bridge, because she twice deserted him. Laurie fears that Michael has been killed too, but finds him safe in the car, and Laurie arrests Pat. Khalil is imprisoned on suspicion of terrorism for having been at the camp in Pakistan and Nusrat and Danny fear this will harm their adoption chances forever.
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
in association with Home Box Office
Home Box Office
HBO, short for Home Box Office, is an American premium cable television network, owned by Time Warner. , HBO's programming reaches 28.2 million subscribers in the United States, making it the second largest premium network in America . In addition to its U.S...
(HBO). The first series was first broadcast on BBC One
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
from 23 January to 1 February 2007, and repeated on BBC Four
BBC Four
BBC Four is a British television network operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation and available to digital television viewers on Freeview, IPTV, satellite and cable....
from 9 April to 13 April 2007.
The series follows five non-consecutive days (days 1, 3, 28, 33 and 79) of a police investigation into the disappearance of a young mother and her two children. It was written by Gwyneth Hughes and directed by Otto Bathurst and Simon Curtis. Music for the series was composed by Magnus Fiennes
Magnus Fiennes
Magnus Fiennes is an English cross-genre composer, record producer and songwriter. He has worked with artists such as Shakira, Pulp, Tom Jones and Morcheeba...
.
A two-part spin-off called Hunter was broadcast on BBC One in January 2009. A second series of Five Days has been developed by the BBC and was broadcast on 1 March 2010 to 5 March 2010.
Plot
Leanne Wellings prepares to visit her grandfather, who resides in a convalescent home. She takes her two young children Rosie and Ethan, and calls up the stairs to her eldest daughter, Tanya, to join them. Tanya makes an excuse to avoid going. Leanne eventually leaves with Ethan and Rosie. Leanne rushes to collect a dog from the shelter before it closes. She then drives to her grandfather, new dog in tow, but stops at a layby to buy him some flowers from a van. A lorry draws up at the same time. The children lose sight of their mother as they sit in the car. Leanne does not return and the bewildered children start to walk away from the car.Leanne's husband Matt works at a local gym. It is here that several of the characters connect with each other: Press Officer Defne ignores loner Kyle as he tries to make a conversation. In another scene, Leanne's parents, Barbara and John are introduced. The family slowly learn of Leanne's disappearance, and that Rosie and Ethan are now missing too. Kyle seems to have picked them up in a white van. The police begin the investigation, but the Press Officer feels there is a lack of support, and the DSI in charge is relatively new in the position.
Matt's best friend, Gary, is about to retire, and complains of not having enough pension to live on. Matt gets him a job at the gym where he works, and the police recruit him to spy on Matt, paying him for information.
The police begin a house to house investigation. Meanwhile, Beam wakes up Sarah, who has jet-lag and is disorientated. On learning the time from Beam, she dashes out of her flat, and opens a shed door to dump her rubbish. There, crouching in the darkness, she finds Ethan, and the dog. Ethan says that he was supposed to look after Rosie. Sarah is seen as a heroine for finding him. Ethan tells the police that his dog bit a man, who had a dirty white van. Kyle's mother Hazel becomes suspicious of his actions. His hand is damaged, and he begins to wash his white van every day despite previously never washing it.
Meanwhile journalist Josh smells a story, and persuades his editor to run a picture of attractive Leanne on their front page. Josh's is a small local newspaper, and he wants to run a more exciting story than golden weddings. He publishes Leanne's picture, despite getting the brush off from Defne, who is trying to keep the story relatively low profile. Josh takes photos for the paper at the home where Vic, Leanne's grandfather, lives. Josh manages to converse with Vic about his granddaughter. He eventually persuades Vic to loan him the key to his mobile home, in order to gather clues and background details. However, when he arrives at the mobile home, he is astonished to discover Rosie on the bed seemingly unharmed. He calls the police and takes pictures for his paper and dashes off to his office, leaving Rosie with the neighbours. However, Josh doesn't see Kyle who, on arriving at the mobile home in his white van, is arrested by the police.
Defne eventually persuades Matt to give a press conference, and Barbara agrees to speak as well. The press conference doesn't go well, and Josh asks Matt if he knew that Leanne was pregnant, having acquired the information from her grandfather. Matt, clearly shaken, walks out. It is left to Barbara to appeal to whoever has any information about Leanne's whereabouts. At first, she is calm, then she gives in to a scream of panic and grief in front of everyone. After the debacle, DSI Barclay is rapped by his superior for not participating and supporting the press. He remains aloof, but agrees to help.
Sarah is finding it hard to let go of Leanne's family, and starts seeing them regularly. Sarah attempts to start a relationship with Matt, but he rebuffs her advances, telling her that they can only be friends. She is upset at this, and eventually tells him her own traumatic past, in which her father murdered her mother, Sarah was 5 at the time. This seems to explain her rather unbalanced behaviour since finding Ethan.
Tanya has left to live with Barbara and John and expresses her feelings of guilt to John. She tells him that she didn't want to visit Vic because his room smelt. Tanya feels that Leanne's disappearance would've never happened if she'd joined them. John tries to reassure her. Eventually Tanya goes to stay with her dad in France. The police have a lead that Leanne may have started seeing her ex- husband, but they haven't followed it up. Barclay is obsessed with following the flower seller, a Bosnian, who may have links with illegal immigration from Macedonia. This frustrates the rest of the team.
After 28 days, DSI Barclay comes under scrutiny from his superiors in the Met as he has no leads on the case at all. They are about to submit a report and are asking the team questions. His colleague Amy is frustrated that he hasn't named a suspect. She accuses him of refusing to name Matt as a suspect because he's black. However, Barclay's superiors ordered him to lay off Matt. Barclay denies this. Later a body is found in the woods by the dog shelter owner, whilst out walking his dogs. The body is identified as Branko, the Macedonian illegal immigrant who sold flowers from a van, the van Leanne was buying flowers from when she disappeared.
On day 33, it is August Bank Holiday. Defne is taking part in the fun run and Beam is there to support her. Josh is there to cover the event for the paper. Simone, Sarah and Matt take the children to the fun run. Matt becomes overwhelmed by the crowds and he and Sarah go to her flat, leaving the children and the dog with Simone. They have sex, despite Matt's reluctance. Suddenly a boater on the lake spots a body in the water. After several days it is confirmed that the body is Leanne's.
Amy is about to retire, and her colleagues throw a party for her. She drunkenly gives a speech about not missing her colleagues. However, she is actually terrified at the prospect of life without her work. Barclay takes her home and sobers her up. Before she retires, the forensic lab does her one last favour, they identify the fibres under Leanne's fingernails as carpet. It becomes apparent to Barclay that Leanne, desperate to give a clue to her would be rescuers, deliberately scraped up the fibres so that they would be found. It was also established that she was alive when she was dumped in the lake. John is admitted to a psychiatric hospital, following an overdose. Barclay had warned him about seeing Leanne's body after 5 weeks underwater, and he's traumatised. Only Tanya comes to visit him, her true feelings for her grandfather shows, mirroring her mum's devotion to Vic, despite her protestations of "who needs love, anyway?" Barbara is furious at John, and refuses to see him. Beam is irritated by the dog shelter man, who insists on confessing to killing Leanne.
Kyle is in court, he is remanded in custody despite his pleas that he was regularly beaten by other inmates in prison. The judge refuses to remand him to his mother. Kyle manages to escape from the police van that was taking him back to prison. He's hit by a car, but continues on his way, eventually ending up at Rosie and Ethan's house, where they're being cared for by Sarah. Rosie is delighted to see him, and gives him a hug. He disappears before Sarah comes out and finds the children.
Gary finds Kyle at the gym and beats him viciously, telling him to be quiet. Matt tells the others to call the police, and then locks himself in the locker room with Kyle and Gary, where he demands to know if Kyle hurt Rosie. Kyle insists that he didn't, and says that it was all an accident. He and Branko ran a smuggling scheme bringing in untaxed cigarettes, and storing them at Vic's mobile home. Vic had let them use it as a favour for Hazel, Kyle's mother, who worked at the nursing home and was the only person who was kind to Vic. When Leanne stopped to buy the flowers, Kyle was in the back of the flower van with cigarettes and illegal cash, Leanne then started to shout at Branko that his cancer sticks were killing her grandfather. Branko attempted to shut her up, and Leanne hit her head, and fell unconscious. Terrified, Branko and Kyle threw her in the back of the van and drove off. When she recovered consciousness, she was concerned about her children, so Kyle went to pick them up in his white van. Ethan and the dog jumped out, but he took Rosie back to Vic's mobile home, where Branko had taken Leanne. Kyle insists that it was too late, and Leanne died, so he took her body and put it in the lake.
Matt tells him that it wasn't too late, that Leanne drowned when Kyle dumped her in the lake. Kyle is horrified and turns to Gary and shouts "You said she was dead!" Matt understands that it was Gary who killed Leanne, and attacks him. The police break in and take them all away, but Kyle dies of his injuries inflicted by Gary. Gary is charged with the deaths of Leanne, Branko and Kyle. The final scene is Matt with his three children at Leanne's grave (with a smaller cross for her unborn baby). Sarah is nearby, but doesn't join the family as they walk away together.
Cast
- David OyelowoDavid Oyelowo- Background :Oyelowo was born in Oxford, England of Nigerian descent. He is married to actress Jessica Oyelowo and they have three sons.Oyelowo first attended a youth theatre after being invited by a girl to whom he was attracted. He then studied Theatre Studies for A level and his teacher...
- Matt Wellings - Penelope WiltonPenelope WiltonPenelope Alice Wilton, OBE is an English actress.-Life and career:Penelope Alice Wilton was born in Scarborough, North Riding of Yorkshire, to a former actress mother and a businessman father. She is a niece of actors Bill Travers and Linden Travers and a cousin of the actor Richard Morant...
- Barbara Poole - Hugh BonnevilleHugh BonnevilleHugh Richard Bonneville Williams, known professionally as Hugh Bonneville , is an English stage, film, television and radio actor.-Education:...
- DSI Iain Barclay - Edward WoodwardEdward WoodwardEdward Albert Arthur Woodward, OBE was an English stage and screen actor and singer. After graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art , Woodward began his career on stage, and throughout his career he appeared in productions in both the West End in London and on Broadway in New York...
- Vic Marsham - Sarah SmartSarah SmartSarah Smart is an English actress.Smart was born in Birmingham, West Midlands, England. Her career started as a child, notably in the television series Woof!. She is best known for a series of well-regarded television roles including Virginia Braithwaite, daughter of a lottery winning family in...
- Sarah Wheeler - Janet McTeerJanet McTeerJanet McTeer, OBE is a British actress.-Life and career:McTeer was born in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, United Kingdom, the daughter of Jean and Alan McTeer...
- DS Amy Foster - Patrick MalahidePatrick MalahidePatrick Malahide is a British actor, who has played many major film and television roles.-Personal life:Malahide, real name Patrick Gerald Duggan, was born in Reading, Berkshire, the son of Irish immigrants, a cook mother and a school secretary father...
- John Poole - Nikki Amuka-BirdNikki Amuka-BirdNikki Amuka-Bird is a Nigerian born British actress of the stage and screen. Her theatrical credits include Welcome to Thebes ; Twelfth Night ; World Music ; Top Girls ; A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Tempest and The Servant of Two Masters Nikki Amuka-Bird is a Nigerian born British actress of the...
- PC Simone Farnes - Doug AllenDoug Allen (actor)Doug Allen is a British actor. He has appeared in a variety of British television programmes and in film, but remains best known for playing the role of Nathan Williams in the BBC soap opera EastEnders between 2001 and 2002...
- Gary Machin - Michelle BonnardMichelle BonnardMichelle Bonnard born in Bournville, Birmingham is an English actress. She attended the Central Junior Television Workshop before studying at LAMDA.- Career :...
- Defne Topcu - Rory KinnearRory KinnearRory Kinnear is an award-winning English actor who has worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal National Theatre.-Early life:...
- Kyle Betts - Margot Leicester - Hazel Betts
- Lucinda DryzekLucinda DryzekLucinda "Lucy" Dryzek is an English actress. Probably best known for playing Katy Riley in the BBC sitcom Life of Riley.-Personal life:...
- Tanya Wellings - Lee Massey - Ethan Wellings
- Tyler Anthony - Rosie Wellings
- Al WeaverAl WeaverAlex "Al" Weaver is an English actor.Weaver studied acting at Guildhall School of Music and Drama. His first paid theatre role was in Trevor Nunn's 2004 production of Hamlet, at the Old Vic theatre in London...
- Josh Fairley - Phil Davis - Mic Danes
- Richard Harrington - Daf Parry
- Christine TremarcoChristine TremarcoChristine Tremarco is a British television actress.Educated at St Cecilia's Infant School and then Holly Lodge Girls' College, she was spotted in a school play and invited to a new dance and drama school...
- Leanne Wellings - Harriet WalterHarriet WalterDame Harriet Mary Walter, DBE is a British actress.-Personal life:She is the niece of renowned British actor Sir Christopher Lee, as the daughter of his elder sister Xandra Lee. On her father's side she is a great-great-great-granddaughter of John Walter, founder of The TimesShe was educated at...
- ACC Jennie Griffin - Charlie Creed-MilesCharlie Creed-MilesCharlie Creed-Miles is an English actor and musician. He had a daughter with Samantha Morton in 2000.- Filmography :* You And I .... Ian* Harry Brown .... Hickock* King Arthur .... Ganis...
- DC Stephen Beam - Jason WatkinsJason Watkins (actor)Jason Watkins , is an award-nominated British stage, film and television actor.-Career:Since training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, he has established himself as a stage actor, and is a member of the National Theatre company....
- Francis Cross
Hunter
In October 2008, the BBC commissioned a two-part spin-off in which Hugh Bonneville and Janet McTeer reprise their roles as Barclay and Foster. Hunter was broadcast in January 2009.In Australia, the Five Days miniseries was broadcast over 2 weeks on 2 and October9n ABC TV
ABC Television
ABC Television is a service of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation launched in 1956. As a public broadcasting broadcaster, the ABC provides four non-commercial channels within Australia, and a partially advertising-funded satellite channel overseas....
under the title Hunter as a lead-in to the broadcast of this mini series, beginning 16 October.
Series two
In August 2009 the Ecclesbourne Valley RailwayEcclesbourne Valley Railway
The Ecclesbourne Valley Railway is a long heritage railway in Derbyshire, the headquarters of the railway centre around Wirksworth station and services operate between Wirksworth and Duffield and Wirksworth and Ravenstor...
in Wirksworth
Wirksworth
Wirksworth is a small market town in Derbyshire, England, with a population of over 9,000.The population of the Wirksworth area including Cromford, Bolehill and Middleton-by-Wirksworth is about 12,000. Wirksworth is listed in the Domesday Book in 1086. Within it is the source of the River...
, Derbyshire
Derbyshire
Derbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England. A substantial portion of the Peak District National Park lies within Derbyshire. The northern part of Derbyshire overlaps with the Pennines, a famous chain of hills and mountains. The county contains within its boundary of approx...
was used to film the second series, entitled 'Five Days II', and starring Suranne Jones
Suranne Jones
Suranne Jones is an English actress. She first rose to prominence playing the role of Karen McDonald in ITV1's soap opera Coronation Street over a period of four years...
, Anne Reid
Anne Reid
Anne Reid, MBE is a BAFTA Award-nominated English film and television actress from Newcastle upon Tyne, best known for her roles as Valerie Tatlock in Coronation Street and Jean in dinnerladies....
, Bernard Hill
Bernard Hill
Bernard Hill is a British actor of film, stage and television. In a career spanning thirty years, he is best known for playing Yosser Hughes, the troubled 'hard man' whose life is falling apart in Alan Bleasdale's groundbreaking 1980s TV drama, Boys from the Blackstuff...
, Matthew McNulty
Matthew McNulty
Matthew McNulty is an English actor of film and television.-Film:*Geography of the Hapless Heart as Jamie*Messengers 2: The Scarecrow as Deputy Milton...
, Ashley Walters, David Morrissey
David Morrissey
David Mark Morrissey is an English actor and director. Morrissey grew up in the Kensington and Knotty Ash areas of Liverpool, and learned to act at the city's Everyman Youth Theatre. At the age of 18, he was cast in the television series One Summer , which won him recognition throughout the country...
, Chris Fountain
Chris Fountain
Christopher Ryan Fountain is an English actor best known for his role as Justin Burton on the Channel 4 teen soap Hollyoaks, a role he played from 2003 until his departure in June 2009. He is also now known for playing Tommy Duckworth in Coronation Street. He played the role of PC Paul Tait in...
, Nina Sosanya
Nina Sosanya
Nina Sosanya is an English actress. She was born in London and her father is Nigerian. She trained at the Northern School of Contemporary Dance, gaining A-Levels in Performing Arts....
and Derek Riddell
Derek Riddell
Derek Riddell is a Scottish television actor.He was born in Glasgow, the son of actress Hope Ross and former St Mirren footballer Ian Riddell...
amongst others. The station at Wirksworth was turned into the fictional station of Castlebury in Yorkshire.
Many locations within West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire is a metropolitan county within the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England with a population of 2.2 million. West Yorkshire came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972....
and some in North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire is a non-metropolitan or shire county located in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England, and a ceremonial county primarily in that region but partly in North East England. Created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972 it covers an area of , making it the largest...
were used for filming: Many scenes were filmed at Wakefield Kirkgate railway station
Wakefield Kirkgate railway station
Wakefield Kirkgate railway station is a railway station in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England. Unlike the nearby Wakefield Westgate railway station, Kirkgate is unstaffed and served mostly by local trains...
with the main road approaching the station being closed for a period of time whilst a chase was filmed. A now demolished signal box, named 'Oakenshaw', which was located just down the line from Wakefield Kirkgate gets a mention within the programme. The public entrance and 6th floor interior (with genuine landscape views of Wakefield) of the HMRC Enquiry Centre, 'Crown House' on Kirkgate / Brunswick Street was turned into a police station for filming. Actors wearing high-vis police jackets with 'British Transport Police'
British Transport Police
The British Transport Police is a special police force that polices those railways and light-rail systems in Great Britain for which it has entered into an agreement to provide such services...
on the back were seen outside Crown House. A sign stating 'North Counties Constabulary' was seen outside Crown House and this is believed to be the name for the fictitious local police force, yet the British Transport Police is mentioned with its correct name. One of the main shopping areas, Kirkgate, was also a location for filming.
Brighouse railway station
Brighouse railway station
Brighouse railway station serves the town of Brighouse in West Yorkshire, England. The station lies on the Caldervale Line and the Huddersfield Line running west from Leeds. The station reopened in 2000 and is served by local Northern Rail trains.- History :...
was also seen in the opening scenes of the first episode with a Northern Rail
Northern Rail
Northern Rail is a British train operating company that has operated local passenger services in Northern England since 2004. Northern Rail's owner, Serco-Abellio, is a consortium formed of Abellio and Serco, an international operator of public transport systems...
service seen arriving and then departing the station. Many exterior scenes, including Market and outside street scenes were filmed in Dewsbury
Dewsbury
Dewsbury is a minster town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, in West Yorkshire, England. It is to the west of Wakefield, east of Huddersfield and south of Leeds...
and Dewsbury Town Hall was also featured. The exterior shots of 'St. Mary's Hospital' is actually the exterior of the 'EC Stoner' Administration building of the University of Leeds
University of Leeds
The University of Leeds is a British Redbrick university located in the city of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England...
and the Mosque shown is actually the Northern School of Contemporary Dance on Louis Street, Chapeltown. Many of the Victorian housing stock seen on screen are Leeds streets filmed around Harehills
Harehills
Harehills is an inner-city area of east Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is approximately north east of Leeds city centre. Harehills is situated between the A58 and the A64 .- Overview :...
. All scenes involving the British Rail Class 101 Diesel Multiple Unit were filmed at the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway in Derbyshire. This type of train is no longer in service - the last serving unit was withdrawn in 2003. Certain scenes were set in Scarborough, due to a particular character being resident in the town. Wirksworth station was dressed up to be 'Castlebury' station and the Class 101 DMU had the fictitious 'Pennine Rail Express' livery applied to the interior and exterior of the train - the colours of which are of a similar style to those of the Northern Rail
Northern Rail
Northern Rail is a British train operating company that has operated local passenger services in Northern England since 2004. Northern Rail's owner, Serco-Abellio, is a consortium formed of Abellio and Serco, an international operator of public transport systems...
train livery. Some Northern Rail
Northern Rail
Northern Rail is a British train operating company that has operated local passenger services in Northern England since 2004. Northern Rail's owner, Serco-Abellio, is a consortium formed of Abellio and Serco, an international operator of public transport systems...
trains can be seen pulling out of stations and in the backgrounds when not central to the main action within a scene.
The second series was broadcast on BBC One from 1–5 March 2010.
Plot
On day one, an off duty police officer named Laurie Franklin, is on a train accompanying her mother Jen, who suffers from dementia, to hospital. The train suddenly comes to a halt, and it soon transpires that a young Muslim woman has jumped from a bridge, hitting the train, leaving the train driver, Pat, traumatised. Laurie and conductor Danny take charge until the railway police arrive. Danny gives Jen and Laurie a lift to the hospital, where Jen fits and is admitted overnight. At the hospital, Laurie learns from social worker Colly and foster father Nick that a baby has been abandoned in a toilet and found by cleaner Didi. The baby is named Michael, after Didi's brother. As Danny and his Muslim wife Nusrat discuss adoption, Laurie believes that the baby and the suicide are connected. DI Mal Craig, the Railway Police inspector, tells her that the corpse is in fact that of a young man, not a woman as had been previously thought.Day two, Laurie discovers that Michael's blood group is Asian and although it is believed that the dead youth is the father, Michael's blood group does not match the deceased. However, the dead youth's finger-prints are found on the baby's pushchair, which Colly and Didi discover abandoned in the hospital grounds. It also contains a Muslim prayer for protection. Mal's son, who lives with his estranged wife, was playing by the railway lines, and recorded a video of his friend, and in the background, the video shows that the dead youth was actually pushed, at which point Laurie's superior, Supt Jim Carpenter, takes over the case. DC Bilal Choudry answers an appeal and names the corpse as an illegal Afghan immigrant, Farid, who was a drug-pusher, possibly killed in a gangland revenge. Laurie is surprised to find Jen bringing home Gerard, a man they met on the train. Nusrat - hopeful to adopt Michael - discovers her brother Khalil agitated and blood-stained.
Day 8, Michael falls ill, and is admitted to hospital. The diagnosis is suspected methadone withdrawal. There are no leads a week after the murder. A reconstruction of the murder is created and Muslim passenger Jamal Matthews accuses Laurie of inciting Islamophobia. An old lady alerts Laurie to the disappearance of her neighbours on the day of the murder - a man and two women. Farid's shoe is found in their car but was apparently also worn by someone else. Nusrat disowns Khalil to the adoption officer and soon afterwards their father, Ibra, finds images of Khalil with a Taliban-type group on his computer following Khalil's visit to Pakistan, allegedly to study. At the same time Khalil is meeting Jamal.
Day 37, Nick takes Michael home and confesses to Colly, his deceased wife's sister, that he wants to keep him, but Didi tells Colly a child needs a mother and Nusrat and Danny are suitable for the adoption. Khalil freaks out at a royal visit and is briefly arrested by Laurie, which angers Ibra. Ibra confronts Khalil about the photos found on the computer, to which Khalil replies that they were from the past and that he has changed. Pat meets former lover Maureen who reveals that she lived next to the old lady with her friend's daughter Katie, who now lives in Manchester. It transpires that Katie is Michael's mother, and the father is Farid, but it is revealed that Farid wasn't the dead youth's name. Farid is in fact, the dead youth's brother, who turns up. Jen and Gerry bond as he goes with her to hospital, where her condition is re-diagnosed as physical degeneration and not Alzheimer's. Laurie and Mal also bond but as Pat takes Maureen to the police to explain her innocence, Mal is hit by a car whilst pursuing Sohel, one of the train passengers.
Two months later, Laurie, still traumatised from the accident that killed Mal, learns that Jen and Gerry are engaged. Maureen, having told the police that she was on the bridge when the youth jumped but did not push him, moves in with Pat. Farid, Michael's real father, is preparing to collect Michael from Nick and promises to raise him with the aid of Maureen. However Maureen kidnaps Michael and takes him to Katie, who wants nothing to do with Michael. She returns to Pat, confessing that she shopped Farid for drug-dealing, causing his brother to jump from the bridge as he was left on his own. Laurie discovers that Pat has pushed Maureen over the bridge, because she twice deserted him. Laurie fears that Michael has been killed too, but finds him safe in the car, and Laurie arrests Pat. Khalil is imprisoned on suspicion of terrorism for having been at the camp in Pakistan and Nusrat and Danny fear this will harm their adoption chances forever.
Cast
- Suranne JonesSuranne JonesSuranne Jones is an English actress. She first rose to prominence playing the role of Karen McDonald in ITV1's soap opera Coronation Street over a period of four years...
- Laurie Franklin - David MorrisseyDavid MorrisseyDavid Mark Morrissey is an English actor and director. Morrissey grew up in the Kensington and Knotty Ash areas of Liverpool, and learned to act at the city's Everyman Youth Theatre. At the age of 18, he was cast in the television series One Summer , which won him recognition throughout the country...
- DI Mal Craig - Bernard HillBernard HillBernard Hill is a British actor of film, stage and television. In a career spanning thirty years, he is best known for playing Yosser Hughes, the troubled 'hard man' whose life is falling apart in Alan Bleasdale's groundbreaking 1980s TV drama, Boys from the Blackstuff...
- Gerard Hopkirk - Anne ReidAnne ReidAnne Reid, MBE is a BAFTA Award-nominated English film and television actress from Newcastle upon Tyne, best known for her roles as Valerie Tatlock in Coronation Street and Jean in dinnerladies....
- Jen Mason - Hugo SpeerHugo SpeerHugo Speer is an English actor.He was born in Harrogate, Yorkshire, and educated at Harrogate Grammar School. He studied acting at The Arts Educational School....
- Supt Jim Carpenter - Shaun DooleyShaun DooleyShaun Dooley is a British actor who regularly appears on television and in British Films.-Biography:Shaun Dooley was born in Barnsley, South Yorkshire. He studied at the Arden School of Theatre in Manchester between 1992 and 1995....
- Sgt Don Parker - Navin ChowdhryNavin ChowdhryNavin Chowdhry is a British television actor.-Personal life:Navin Chowdhry was born and raised in Bristol, England. In 1994, Chowdhry graduated from Imperial College, London earning a 3 year degree in biochemistry, with 2:1 honours.-Career:...
- Bilal Choudry - Derek RiddellDerek RiddellDerek Riddell is a Scottish television actor.He was born in Glasgow, the son of actress Hope Ross and former St Mirren footballer Ian Riddell...
- Nick Durden - Nina SosanyaNina SosanyaNina Sosanya is an English actress. She was born in London and her father is Nigerian. She trained at the Northern School of Contemporary Dance, gaining A-Levels in Performing Arts....
- Colly Trent - Shivani GhaiShivani GhaiShivani Ghai is a British actress of Indian origin. Born and brought up in Newcastle, at 18 Shivani moved away to pursue an acting career.-Career:Finding herself in London she started out in theatre working for companies such as Man Mela, Rifco and Kali....
- Nusrat Preston - Matthew McNultyMatthew McNultyMatthew McNulty is an English actor of film and television.-Film:*Geography of the Hapless Heart as Jamie*Messengers 2: The Scarecrow as Deputy Milton...
- Danny Preston - Sacha DhawanSacha DhawanSacha Dhawan is an English actor. He has performed on stage, film, television and radio. Dhawan was born in Bramhall, Stockport, Greater Manchester.-Career:...
- Khalil Akram - Pooky QuesnelPooky QuesnelJoanna Quesnel, known professionally as Pooky Quesnel, is an English actress, screenwriter and singer.-Background:Quesnel was raised in Eccles, Lancashire, along with her six siblings. She read English at Oxford University before spending a year at drama school...
- Maureen Hardy - Steve EvetsSteve EvetsSteve Evets is an English actor and musician, who found fame in the leading role in the 2009 film Looking for Eric.-Personal life:...
- Pat Dowling - Ashley Walters - Jamal Matthews
- Aaron Neil - Ibra Akram
External links
- Viewers' reviews on the Guardian website http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/organgrinder/2007/01/first_night_five_days.html