The Couple Next Door

Leeds just got a whole lot more sexy...

Sam Heughan as Danny, Jessica De Gouw as Becka, Alfred Enoch as Pete and Eleanor Tomlinson as Evie

After a month a panicked Christmas shopping, sweaty work parties and jingly festive music, you may be on the hunt for some escapism in the form television. So I come bearing gifts for you! (Although if you’re looking for family friendly content, look elsewhere. Just a disclaimer.)

Has anyone else noticed the increasingly popular cure to writers’ block (the type suffered by TV writers, that is)? If you’ve missed it, let me enlighten you: look across the channel to our European friends for inspiration! In other words, simply make English versions of their hit series. Lacking in originality, perhaps, but sometimes tested formulas are worth pursuing. And that’s the conclusion of writers of Channel 4’s The Couple Next Door, which is based on Dutch series The Swingers.   

Get out the crime-drama-sexy-thriller cliché bingo card now. We will all be winners of this one, because The Couple Next Door is full of them. The title itself is a prime example, despite the couples actually living opposite each other- I suppose ‘The Couple Opposite’ doesn’t quite have the same effect. The opening sequence features screams, panic-stricken faces and the threatening presence of a gun, as our four insanely attractive protagonists run through a forest. No one in real life looks that perfect, hinting at a similarly ridiculous plot to follow.

Then cut. We rewind to a juxtaposing aerial shot of an idyllic suburban neighbourhood, supposedly Leeds but let’s just say a little creative license was deployed here. Evie (Eleanor Tomlinson) and Pete (Alfred Enoch) are arriving alongside a removal van at their new home, greeted by Becka (Jessica De Gouw) and Danny (Sam Heughan) with open (and hench, in Danny’s case) arms. Their faces are familiar from our thrilling opening, suggesting that all does not remain as rosy for the foursome. Oh, a foursome! Another stamp on the bingo card!!

Their friendship quickly blossoms and the prolonged camera shots on particular facial expressions are telling that the relationships grow far closer than simply friendships. Becka and Danny identify as ‘non-monogamous’ and hold the firm belief that food and drink are not the only things on the table at dinner parties. Initially both Pete and Evie are fascinated by their friends’ risqué arrangement, but when fascination becomes aspiration for Evie, things get messy…

It would be remiss not to mention the pervert on the street. For those who wish to leave their view of Hugh Dennis uncorrupted, look away now. Dennis plays creepy Alan, whose obsession with Becka makes for uncomfortable viewing- I really didn’t need to see the awkward Dad of Outnumbered masturbating. I am just relieved I watched this after bumping into him in Highgate Woods over the summer… That said, it’s a bold move to play such a character, one that he has pulled off with uncanny success. Hats off to Hugh!

If it weren’t for the sex, The Couple Next Door would make for light Christmas viewing as it requires absolutely no effort or inference. The clichés are laid on thickly, leaving no room for nuance. But complaining about this would be akin to bemoaning the use of pink paint in Barbie or the cheesiness of Stilton. That is the point.

Alongside a complicated web of competing sexual desires, cop Danny’s illicit side hustle raises the stakes from a one-dimensional sex story: there are guns and diamonds too. Other subplots, including Alan’s inappropriately-positioned telescope and Danny’s secret past, add further intrigue. Despite the stereotypical characters and predictability, I did notice how my allegiances changed throughout the series. Initially I gravitated towards Evie and Pete, with an instant animosity about Becka and Danny, who seemed to be the eponymous ‘Couple Next Door’. But as the series progressed, the divide between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ became increasingly unclear. Perhaps this mirrors my overall impression of the series. But I didn’t just endure the six episodes; I lapped them up with guilty pleasure and sometimes that’s what you need. Just wait to watch it until after your final Christmas guests have left.