The writer Matthew Barry and director Ashley Way gave us one of the highlights of 2023’s television output in Men Up, a witty, moving, compassionate treat of a drama about the development of the drug that would become known as Viagra and the group of Welshmen who were among its first guinea pigs.
Their new offering is a more straightforward one, and if it doesn’t achieve the same success Men Up did, they can hardly be condemned for having set their bar so high.
The Guest is a fast, furious, preposterous thriller of the kind that you can only pull off if everyone involved in its creation and consumption approaches it without an ounce of cynicism. Barry, Way and the high-calibre cast hold up their end of the bargain, delivering bags of propulsive plot. Viewers must hold up theirs via uncritical acceptance of the multiple twists, and bring along enough metaphorical or actual popcorn for the ride.
Thus will happiness ensue as we embark on the tale of young have-not Ria (Gabrielle Creevy, in a really fine performance that does much to prevent the whole thing flying off the rails). She is working as a cleaner for various horrible people who fire her as soon as someone cheaper comes along (“If you’re going to be funny about it, let’s just call it a day, shall we?”), supporting Lee (Sion Daniel Young), the deadbeat boyfriend she has had since school, and stealing food so she can pay their rent on a grim illegal sublet while he complains about the lack of jobs. Into this unrewarding life arrives Fran (Eve Myles), a rich, self-made businesswoman and apparent fairy godmother. She offers Ria a four-day-a-week cleaning job at her luxurious mansion for decent wages and gives her inspirational speeches, which stir the longings and ambitions in Ria that have lain dormant since her mother died while Ria was still at school.
Of course, Fran could be all benevolence, but a glimpse of a shadowy figure in the supposedly empty guesthouse, and the ominous strings scoring every scene Fran is in, tell the astute watcher otherwise, even before the aged gardener, Derek (Clive Russell), tells her to get out of there while she still can. It’s probably his memory going, though. It’s almost certainly nothing to do with the permanently locked room in the mansion, the imports Mr Fran is constantly sourcing abroad and sending home, or Fran having an affair with Derek’s son. Nor dropping hints about domestic violence or insisting that her childlessness is a happy choice she made so that she and her unsettling husband could concentrate on the business.
Soon, Fran is offering her more money, more responsibility, more inspirational speeches, more clothes from her wardrobe, giving her pills from her stash and installing Ria in the guesthouse. She also encourages her protege to join dating apps to see what improvements Ria can make on the boyfriend situation now that Fran has shown her what she’s truly worth. A guy called Mike Rice (Joseph Ollman) seems nice!
Not that Ria is a sap. She has an instinct for self-preservation (quietly whipping out her phone to record Fran and her lover shagging in the kitchen, though this may just be a reminder to double-Dettol the place rather than as future blackmail material) and enough smarts to keep her from being the kind of heroine you find yourself shouting at in frustration.
With a sense of glorious inevitability, we move into a world of broken banisters and bodies, Instagram clues, police suspicions, hidden diaries, rolls of ready cash and more, while Fran and Ria’s relationship grows more twisted, more intense. The question of quite how dangerous it is to know each of them becomes more pressing.
Oh, I almost forgot (I’m sorry – there is a lot going on)! What of the previous cleaner, Anna, who was also promoted to Fran’s assistant, given a makeover, supplied with lots of pills and installed in the guesthouse? Why would anyone give that cushy number up? I’m sure there is not a reasonable explanation, and you will be too if you’ve gone into this with the right attitude, as recommended above.
All four ridiculous, well-played, well-paced episodes slip down a treat. There’s nothing hugely earth-shattering or innovative here – apart from the sheer volume of plot contained therein – but you will have fun. That much I promise you.
• The Guest aired on BBC One and is on iPlayer now.
