Cold Call Review

Cold Call is an original drama that takes a fear that many of us have and turns it into a revenge story.

June Clarke (Sally Lindsay) is a care home worker from Manchester whose life is ruined when she gets tricked by a cold caller to give them her bank information. This action ruins June’s life: she loses her home, unable to help her pregnant daughter (Taj Atwal) buy a house, and her mother (Melanie Kilburn) commits suicide in a desperate attempt to get June life insurance money. When June attends a support group she gets approached by an ex-school friend, Des (Daniel Ryan) offers to help get her money and get revenge against the men who stole from her.

Cold Call was commissioned by Channel 5. The broadcaster has a bad reputation for making cheap, exploitive reality shows and programmes that focus on poverty porn. In 2014 Channel 5  was brought by Viacom, the company that owns Paramount and CBS in the USA, and they set out to make more original content. Cold Call is an example of this and shows that Channel 5 is moving in the right direction.

The basic concept of the series could easily have fitted into BBC or ITV’s midweek schedule. Although Channel 5 didn’t offer as much money as the BBC or ITV. Those broadcasters would have gotten a marquee star like Kelly Macdonald, Sheridan Smith, or Martin Freeman and tend to have strong production values. The biggest star Cold Call mustered was Sally Lindsay, best known for her stint on Coronation Street and most of the series takes place in limited locations.

Cold Call was not without potential. Many of the cast members have had respectable careers: Paul Higgins and Taj Atwal were both in Line of Duty, Samantha Power was in Ackley Bridge, Daniel Ryan was in ITV’s The Bay, and Katie Redford has a recurring role in the BBC sitcom Still Open All Hours. The most memorable cast was Dan Skinner as Aubrey, the man who originally swindled June. He had a sinister delivery and was utterly amoral. He’s the kind of character you’ll love to hate.

There was tension when Aubrey was on screen, particularly in the third episode. This was done when Aubrey encountered June’s daughter and between Aubrey and June in a pub. The scene in the pub allowed director Gareth Tenley to use some high angles to add to the tension.

The problem with Cold Call was similar to one the BBC’s Informer had: it could easily have been a film instead of a miniseries. The series replied on plot twist and expansions to draw out the run time. June goes from looking to the specific man who stole from her, to working for the man who owns a dodgy call-centre, to an international gangster coming to sort out the mess.

Cold Call was a solid enough thriller that actually shows Channel  5 can make decent programming if they put some effort into it.