Have you ever seen a show where one actor stands out in a sea of mediocrity?
Welcome to Peacock's 'All Her Fault,' airing in the UK and Ireland on Sky Atlantic and available on NowTV and other Sky streaming services.
It's a thriller minus thrills, where Michael Pena just acts everybody else off the screen and appears to have been catapulted into the wrong show.
Adapted from Irish novelist Andrea Mara's 2021 book, it's one of those oh so serious mysteries where bad things happen to whiney, not very nice wealthy people.
Sarah Snook plays Marissa Irvine, a wealth manager juggling the demands of a high powered job in finance with being a mum.
Married to Jake Lacy's commodities trader Peter, she arrives at a house that she's never been to before to collect her five year old son, Duke McCloud's Milo from a playdate.
However the occupant of the house, Linda Cropper's Esther Bauer appears to know nothing about the playdate and when she rings another parent, Dakota Fanning's marketing executive Jenny Kaminski whose son is meant to be with Milo, she is also not aware of a playdate that was arranged by text through her nanny.
Sent into a tailspin, Marissa learns Jenny's son, Tayden Jax Ryan's Jacob is actually with another kid and dashes back home with Esther in case Milo is there.
However her frantic search for her son yields nothing.
Calling the police, Michael Pena's Detective Alcaras enters the fray, as family and friends are informed about Milo's disappearance.
Peter's disabled brother Daniel Monks' Brian who works for him as a day trader, their sister Abby Elliott's recovering drug addict Lia and Marissa's business partner Jay Ellis' Colin Dobbs rally around the couple while also reeling from the shock.
Along with Esther and Jenny, the trio organises a public awareness campaign to help trace the boy, involving volunteers going door to door.
A press conference organised by the police goes south, as Milo's parents are picked apart by journalists prying into their financial affairs.
Things aren't helped by Melanie Vallejo's nosey parents representative at the school, Sarah Larsen behaving bitchily.
With the finger of suspicion pointing at Jenny's nanny, Sophia Lillis' Carrie Finch who haa also vanished, will Detective Alcaras' manhunt return Milo to safety?
When will his focus switch to the involvement of at least one of the main characters who, with the exception of the constantly bawling Marissa, all managed to look shifty?
Adapted for the screen by Megan Gallagher and a team of writers that comprises of James Smythe, Phoebe Eclair-Powell and Kam Odera, 'All Her Fault' is one of those trust nobody, hysterical thrillers in the mould of 'Gone Girl' and 'The Girl On The Train'.
Directed by Minkie Spiro and Kate Dennis, with Melbourne doubling up for Chicago, it is a glossy looking drama.
But like both those big screen thrillers, while it may be slick it lacks much heart or soul.
With the exception of Snook and Pena, the show is just full of irritatingly smug, sleekit characters acting suspiciously.
You've little or no sympathy for them or the parade of annoying Hollywood kids who have been told by the directors to deliver their lines in a Ricky Schroeder "aren't I cute?" way.
Snook wanders about the show the whole time looking constantly teary and confused.
Lacy delivers his trademark "I might be a bastard" performance.
Elliott looks like she's accidentally strayed off the set of 'The Bear' onto the wrong Chicago show and is at a loss how to return.
As for Fanning, it's a real puzzle what she is doing there, as Jenny appears to add very little to proceedings.
Lillis, Ellis, Monks and Cropper have little to work with and therefore they make little or no impression.
Only Pena, who has played more than his fair share of cops over the years, emerges with any credit.
Granted, he could do the detective routine he dutifully trots out in his sleep but his performance is so much better than everyone else's, it feels like his character should have been in 'Task' but also somehow managed to end up on the wrong show.
The Chicago born actor is particularly brilliant with any of the kids he acts with and when he appears onscreen it's a welcome respite from the banality of a show where Snook's character spends one episode obsessing about cleaning a sofa.
'All Her Fault' is a pile of whiny nonsense dragged out over eight episodes.
It's so thin, even four episodes seems too much.
Leaving aside the merits of Pena, the presence of Snook, Fanning and Elliot would, you think, raise hope that this could be a top drawer show, given their most recent successes - 'Succession,' 'Ripley' and 'The Bear'.
However this boring "thriller" falls significantly short.
In fact, it's a real chore to watch which is just inexcusable for a show with such lofty pretensions
('All Her Fault' was broadcast on Sky Atlantic from November 7-21, 2025, with all episodes made available on NowTV and other Sky streaming services)
Less glossy but much more impressive is BBC3's 'Film Club' which frankly runs rings around 'All Her Fault'.
Part sitcom, part romantic drama, it's the story of two University of Manchester graduates and close friends who have contrasting fortunes as they build their careers.
Despite the challenges that being a fully fledged adult brings, both have a solid bond forged out of their mutual love of cinema.
Aimee Lou Wood is Evie whose career has stalled but who runs from her mum's garage a weekly film club they started as students - decorating it in the style of that week's movie and planning quizzes.
Nabhaan Rizwan's solicitor Noa is a loyal participant of the film club but is being lured away to a job in Bristol that will in all likelihood end his involvement.
Two other friends from uni days, Fola Evans-Akingbola's Samantha and Arian Nik's Kamran are more half hearted, only attending occasionally but believing they have grown out of it.
While Noa's career is thriving, Evie's has ground to a halt because she has become agoraphobic.
Living at home with her mum, Suranne Jones' Suz and sister, Liv Hill's Izzie, she struggles to make it past the front gate and is reliant on a local smart arse kid, Owen Cooper's Callum to run errands for her.
Evie does have a boyfriend, though, Adam Long's Josh who Suz adores and who assumes the role of "the man of the house".
While Suz frets over Evie's mental state and whether her daughter and Noa are involved in a weird cult, Noa wrestles with his decision to go to Bristol because of his feelings for Evie.
But are those feelings reciprocated?
Audiences looking for a heartwarming British sitcom that captures suburban life now that 'Gavin and Stacey' and 'Big Boys' have gone, would do well to catch this six part BBC3 comedy drama created by Wood and another castmate Ralph Davis who plays Noa's flatmate Dominic.
Like those shows, 'Film Club' has a soft centre but isn't afraid to bear its comic and dramatic fangs.
It is so well written, it draws its audience quickly into the ups and downs of Evie and Noa's lives and the supporting characters prove just as loveable.
Episodes are cleverly structured around Film Club screenings of 'Alien,' 'The Wizard of Oz,' 'The Shawshank Redemption,' 'Bridesmaids' and 'Brief Encounter,' allowing director Catherine Morshead the chance to affectionately parody those classic films.
Evie's take on why 'The Wizard of Oz' is a horrific movie is an amusing treat.
Crucially, it's a sitcom that knows how to make people laugh, with genuinely funny gags, characters and one liners.
Throwaway gags about Noa's surname, Izzie's attempts to raise awareness of her dog walking service and Suz's obsession with cults land really well.
There's also a smart running gag about the mystery around the job that Lisa McGrillis' neighbour Steph once had.
The central relationship between Evie and Noa is really sweet and engaging, with audiences wanting them to get together and rooting against Josh.
As for the cast, Wood and Rizwan are superb in the lead roles.
Hill, Long, Cooper, Davis, Kamran, Evans-Akingbola and McGrillis also provide excellent support.
Jones shows a flair for comedy that hasn't really been tapped into up to now and she's a revelation.
And there's an excellent musical score too by Nathan Klein.
'Film Club' is one of those sitcoms that shows how a relatively simple but perfectly executed premise can be thoroughly rewarding.
It's the 2025 sitcom that could be the next shining light in BBC3's glittering stable of comedies.
All it needs is for people to champion it and give Wood and Davis the freedom to help it reach its full comic potential.
('Film Club' was broadcast on BBC3 from October 7-22, 2025, with all episodes made available on the iPlayer on October 7, 2025)
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