Five Days
BBC-1 | HBO | BBC | Release Date: January 23, 2007
CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
80
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 12 Critic Reviews
Positive:
11
Mixed:
1
Negative:
0

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
Entertainment WeeklyGillian Flynn
Season 1 Review: 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]
90
The Hollywood ReporterRay Richmond
Season 1 Review: This mini holds you in its thrall from beginning to end, and the twists along the way are seemingly endless. A riveting ride, indeed. Read full review
90
San Jose Mercury News/Contra Costa TimesCharlie McCollum
Season 1 Review: This BBC-produced series has some of the best writing and acting you're likely to see this season. Read full review
80
Detroit Free PressMike Duffy
Season 1 Review: The ensemble cast, including David Oyelowo, Edward Woodward ("The Equalizer") and Janet McTeer, is first rate. A winner. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesRobert Lloyd
Season 1 Review: 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. Read full review
80
Philadelphia Daily NewsEllen Gray
Season 1 Review: While the acting's first rate, it's the mystery that drives Five Days. Read full review
80
The New York TimesAlessandra Stanley
Season 1 Review: 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. Read full review
80
New York Magazine (Vulture)John Leonard
Season 1 Review: With a calculation of word and image that’s almost elegant, Five Days gives us sociology and anthropology instead of shock and awe. Read full review
80
TV Guide MagazineMatt Roush
Season 1 Review: I watched with an escalating sense of dread, but still was unprepared for the powerful twists along the way. Read full review
80
L.A. WeeklyRobert Abele
Season 1 Review: 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. Read full review
70
Boston GlobeMatthew Gilbert
Season 1 Review: 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. Read full review
60
VarietyStaff (Not Credited)
Season 1 Review: 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. Read full review
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