The Couple Next Door finale review — the swingers go ludicrous
The finale was completely, utterly off its head. Watching it was like fever-dreaming after a night on the cheese and port plus a tab of LSD. Were we really expected to believe that Jacob (Sam Palladio), the mild-mannered, slightly dull anaesthetist, would turn overnight into a mad, conniving wife-killer because he feared being exposed for making a clinical error in not giving a patient potassium, which caused his death? Or something.
Yes, Jacob probably would go to prison for framing the hot nurse Mia (Aggy K Adams) for it, but please. Would he really try to murder the love of his life just because she said she'd sussed him? He took her to the partly built new hospital wing and gave her coffee laced with morphine … in the middle of a busy day at work! Hello? What about cameras? And why were there conveniently no workmen there, even though the building was still being finished? 'It'll be over soon,' he said like a true baddie as Charlotte (Annabel Scholey) staggered like a shot stag and he used her phone to write a fake suicide note.
• The Couple Next Door review — C4's hottest drama is still shameless
'You're having a breakdown!' she managed to say before passing out, a ludicrous bit of exposition. These four words supposedly explained his complete character change to instant psychopath.
If this is what real hospitals are like — medics popping illegal pills and altering patient records, senior doctors having threesomes with the sexy new nurse from Norway — no wonder you can't get your hip replacement. This scene was even more preposterous than the one earlier in the series when Charlotte passed out on the sofa after too much wine and Jacob and Mia had sex on a chair 2ft away when his wife could have woken at any second. What a pity Alan the pervert (Hugh Dennis) didn't have his telescope out that night. The content would have sustained him for weeks.
Actually I'll say this for The Couple Next Door, which is based on the Dutch series Nieuwe Buren: there aren't many series that would make the local peeping Tom the hero and have his voyeurism save the day. If he hadn't been training his big instrument on Mia in her house, he wouldn't have seen that she was being terrorised by her former therapist, with his terrible man bun and who had abused her as a traumatised teenager, and managed to save her. Dirty old man in woolly hat comes good!
Actually, Alan was the best character in it, having been in the first series a completely unlikeable perv who treated his wife selfishly. In this series he found his redemption by showing shame, contrition and genuine kindness to Charlotte's dementia-suffering father, Henry (Jeff Rawle). There was even a sniff of romance with Yvonne (Tanya Moodie) and the possibility that he would look after Henry while Charlotte went off to do good works in Mozambique (don't ask), presumably while Jacob rotted in jail, something she seemed to get over pretty sharpish.
• Read more TV reviews, guides about what to watch and interviews
Just when I thought it couldn't get any more ludicrous it ended with Mia in Antwerp working as a tour guide wearing a ridiculous wig and eyeing up the next couple she was going to seduce into a throuple. Hilarious.
You're probably thinking: surely they can't wring another sex and swingers series out of Appleby Drive, Leeds? (Yes, I know it looks more like a suburb of LA.) Oh, I think they probably can. I just pray that next time it isn't the newly reformed Alan throwing his car keys in the fruit bowl.★★☆☆☆
Love TV? Discover the best shows on Netflix, the best Prime Video TV shows, the best Disney+ shows, the best Apple TV+ shows, the best shows on BBC iPlayer, the best shows on Sky and Now, the best shows on ITVX, the best shows on Channel 4 streaming, the best shows on Paramount+ and our favourite hidden gem TV shows. Don't forget to check our critics' choices to what to watch this week, and browse our comprehensive TV guide
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mirror
10 minutes ago
- Daily Mirror
Bonnie Blue sex fame hides a dark reality laid bare in new Channel 4 documentary
Bonnie Blue insists she is happy but there is a cost to her fame and she does not live a normal life Bonnie Blue has made millions from porn, inviting multiple fans to have sex with her and posting film of what some people would call orgies, but she calls 'events', online. Her biggest event was in January, when she had sex with 1,057 men in 12 hours, the inspiration for the title of a new Channel 4 documentary, 1,000 Men and Me: The Bonnie Blue Story. At a screening of the documentary, Bonnie insisted she was 'very happy' with her life. But her notoriety, and her boasts of sex with married men, who, she says, should not feel guilty about cheating on their wives, come at a price. In the film, Bonnie, a 26-year-old former NHS recruitment worker from Derbyshire, whose real name is Tia Billinger, says: 'The last time I went out by myself was probably about six months ago. Now it is not that safe. 'I get 100s of death threats a day, so it is not that safe when I walk around. 'I say, 'It is going to happen at some point, someone will come and give me stick' and fair play to her, at least they are getting up off their sofa. My worst one is acid, if someone did acid, and I could see some spiteful girl doing that.' Bonnie has split from her husband and her closest friends seem to be Josh, who posts her videos, and a stylist. She says: 'My sort of circles got smaller, but my team are also my best friends.' Director Victoria Silver followed Bonnie for six months, gathering footage of her having sex, and was at her January marathon for a couple of hours. At the documentary screening, Bonnie expressed surprise at the amount of explicit footage used. Asked if she was expecting complaints, Victoria said: 'If I was making a film about a musician or some kind of other performer their work would be in there. I think it is important to see what she does.' And Bonnie is clearly proud of her work. Of her sex marathon, she says: 'I love the fact that I was able to experience that day with over 1,000 subscribers, fans, people that spent time out of the day to come meet me. 'But, yeah, I also need money to be able to take time out of my days to be able to do that, to hold these events. These events aren't cheap by the time you pay for staff, security, the venue.' But she says she has earned more than £1million in some months, and the documentary shows the increasingly extreme lengths she will go to for clicks and views. In one stunt, she creates a school classroom for a sex show, with other, younger, contributors taking part after being sent invites. The director's voiceover says they are not paid but 'appearing in their socials with Bonnie is payment enough'. At the shoot in Birmingham, one girl called Codie says: 'She got quite big quite fast, so it will be nice to see how she does things. No, I am not being paid today, it'd just be that I get tagged and then hopefully get followers and subs from that and then roll on to my page.' She admits she does not normally do anything 'adventurous' on her OnlyFans page and that this is the first time she has taken part in filmed group sex. She adds that making sex films is better than having to do an office job. Another contributor, Leah, says: 'I got a DM to see if I wanted to take part. As soon as I heard Bonnie Blue's name I was intrigued because she's everywhere at the minute.' Leah says this is the first time she has been with other people in a room having sex and she is 'definitely' nervous. But Bonnie does not seem bothered or concerned by the fact the girls look a bit shy and intimidated. Bonnie says: 'The fact they are so nervous works in my favour, because their reactions will be more realistic. Or if they feel intimidated, obviously, I want them to say, but sometimes sex is intimidating, so it's going to be good.' Another scene shows Bonnie at home with mum Sarah, who speaks with pride about how her daughter was a great dancer as a child. She also seems proud of her career as a porn star. She says: 'Would it be something that I chose for her to do, no. I was really, really shocked, but now would I want her to do anything else? No, not at all. It's her choice.' Sarah and other relatives have given up their jobs to be on Bonnie's payroll. Sarah says: 'People I know always liked us both, but think it's OK to make nasty comments. 'Most of the time I just laugh. I'm like, 'If you could earn a million pounds in a month, your morals would soon change, and you'd get your bits out'. I don't care what people say.' Bonnie says: 'My family started to put up with hate, I get that, but I also get the life I live and the money. So it's like I also want them to receive some of the rewards.' The documentary ends as Bonnie is about to head to Romania to meet influencer Andrew Tate, who is facing rape and human trafficking charges, which he denies, and is a self proclaimed misogynist. Bonnie says: 'He's probably just as controversial as I am. Whether people love him or hate him, he's a marketing genius.' Director Victoria asks her: 'You talk about female empowerment, but how do you square that with aligning yourself with the most misogynistic male on the internet?' Bonnie says: ' Piers Morgan interviews serial killers all the time. It's not messed up his brand. He [Tate] has been labelled multiple things by the media, and so have I. We're probably the two most misunderstood people out there at the moment.' Channel 4 defended the documentary, telling the Mirror: 'The explicit content is editorially justified and provides essential context.' And at the screening, commissioning editor Tim Hancock said: 'We are very proud to do films like this.' * 1000 Men and Me: The Bonnie Blue Story, Channel 4, Tuesday, 10pm.
Daily Mail
13 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Hundreds of Nigerian migrants are allowed into Britain after using visa scheme for authors, poets and storytellers
Hundreds of Nigerian migrants are cheating the system by using a visa scheme meant for authors and other literary creatives. They have made the most applications for the scheme, which also covers poets, oral storytellers and creators of graphic novels and comics. Those who are successful are able to bring their family into the UK as dependents and stay for up to five years at a time. The Nigerian migrants have also been the most successful in their applications, endorsed by the government quango Arts Council England, which can review and bolster applications for 'Global Talent' visas. This includes those with exceptional talents in music, theatre and dance and those applying are expected to prove their skills. Nigerians have put in 125 applications to the literature category over the past five years - more than double the 61 received from the US and far more than nations like Australia, Canada and New Zealand combined. Of those, 70 were rejected, and 54 were endorsed – more than any other country represented in official figures. The number of Global Talent visa applications being submitted from Nigeria has risen by 2,225 per cent since 2019. There were just 12 applications in 2019, but this rose to 279 in 2024, figures from The Telegraph revealed. Across that entire period, Nigerians made 729 applications across the Global Talent categories in dance, fashion, music, film and TV, theatre, combined arts, and visual arts. They came second to the US who submitted 977. However, Nigeria had the lowest number of endorsements after Ghana, with just 59 per cent. Russia have submitted 725 applications, china had 492, Australia with 233 and India with 160. Since 2019, more than 5,000 applications have been made across all nationalities, with 3,600 endorsed by the Arts Council. Immigration has reached record number for illegal and legal arrivals, as Labour face mounting pressures to curb the soaring number of migrants. The Home Office has not revealed how many of these endorsements then lead to visas being signed off.
The Sun
13 minutes ago
- The Sun
I'm being booted out of our £4m home in 10 days… but I REFUSE to leave, says Harry Potter star Leslie Phillips' widow
CARRY ON star Leslie Phillips' widow is being ordered to leave the home they shared throughout their married life. Zara Phillips has been warned by lawyers that if she does not vacate by August 7, they will go to court to get her out. 4 But Zara, 69, insists: 'I am not going.' After Leslie, who voiced The Sorting Hat in the Harry Potter films, died two and a half years ago aged 98, the contents of his will remained private. But when his last wishes were made public in 2024, it became clear that Leslie' s will had been changed during the Covid crisis. The new will, approved in the Court of Protection, was substantially different to the one drawn up by Leslie the day before the couple married in December 2013. In 2014 Leslie suffered a massive stroke, and Zara quit work and looked after him until his death in November 2022. Leslie's first will had allowed Zara, his third wife and 36 years his junior, to stay in his £4million West London home for the rest of her life. But former air stewardess Zara discovered that a new will states the property must be sold and the proceeds put into a trust fund to be divided between her and Leslie's two sons and two daughters from his first marriage to actress Penelope Bartley. The new will, drawn up in November 2020, insists Zara has to be out of the five-bed property next month. According to a legal letter seen by The Sun, if she refuses to go, lawyers will apply to the courts for possession. Fighting back tears Zara says: 'Where would I go? I am in ill-health, old and frail, not well enough to move and I am still grieving.' She adds: 'Leslie would not have wanted me to be thrown onto the street. I had known him for nearly 30 years. 'They told me that if I do go to court, they will deduct the money from my inheritance. 'The court can bring the bailiffs to throw me out but I won't go. The executors said, 'We know you looked after Leslie very well 24/7. That's the reason we're giving you money'. 'I found it very disrespectful. A wife doesn't charge her husband for looking after him when he is ill.' In a showbiz career lasting eight decades, Leslie appeared in more than 200 movies as well as hit TV series and on stage around the world. He was best known for his catchphrases 'Ding Dong', 'Well, Hellooo' and 'I Say' from appearing in 'Carry On' movies, delivered in rich dulcet tones. He wooed a new generation of fans as the voice of The Sorting Hat in Harry Potter movies, and also appeared with Angelina Jolie in Tomb Raider as well as Steven Spielberg's Empire of the Sun and in Out of Africa with Robert Redford. Leslie's personal life was plagued by tragedy. His first wife Penelope died in a house fire in 1981, while Leslie was in Australia. The following year he married Bond girl Angela Scoular, who killed herself in 2011 with a lethal cocktail of drugs and alcohol after suffering terminal bowel cancer. Zara, a friend for more than 20 years, helped Leslie come to terms with Angela's death. They fell in love and married in December 2013. The actor's estate is valued at over £5million, including the house, which he bought in the 1960s at the height of his fame. When Covid shut down the country in 2020, Zara protected Leslie from the effects of the pandemic. But at that time Leslie changed the will, giving Zara just two years nine months after his death to vacate the house. Zara says: 'I was very vulnerable that time. The country was in the grip of the Covid crisis. 'I was the main carer for Leslie, who was disabled. His will was not my priority at that time. 'I was younger than him and I was devoted and committed. He was my main priority. I loved him with all my heart. I did what I had to do and put Leslie first.' A spokesman for the executors of Leslie's will says: 'I confirm that the administration of Leslie Phillips' estate is ongoing in accordance with a Will approved by the Court of Protection. 'It would not be appropriate for me to comment further for reasons of confidentiality.' 4 4
