A little on the mediocre side, yet exceptionally addictive, Netflix’s adaptation, also co-produced by author Harlan Coben, of his New York Times bestseller The Stranger ventures away from the book’s U.S. based setting by delving into the world of a gritty British crime thriller. 

The premise of The Stranger focuses on the remarkable capacity of each of its characters to conceal potentially devastating secrets that they would pay dearly to keep secret, whilst simultaneously prying into the lives of others. Centring on the main protagonist, a middle-aged suburban dad (Richard Armitage) and his encounter with the rather unthreatening yet enigmatic Stranger (Hannah John-Kamen), a devastating lie is revealed concerning his relationship with his wife Corrine (Dervla Kirwan). Alongside this very compelling and gripping main storyline, there is an abundance of convoluted side-plots involving the teenage children of the main characters, that initially implies a tempting potential connection to the main plot but eventually bears little relevance other than being expansions in content. For instance, the teen’s party comes across as far-fetched, moralizing and outdated regarding the behaviour of teens.  

The Stranger’s cast provides some winning acting talent, including Jennifer Saunders, Stephen Rea and Anthony Head.  Additionally, The Stranger involves Happy Valley’s own Siobhan Finneran, this time occupying the lead detective role Johanna alongside youngster sidekick DC Wesley Ross (Kadiff Kirwan), a duo that provides an interesting yet underdeveloped dynamic in differing age range, resulting in varying outlooks and random usage of ‘millennial’ terminology, for example, DC Wesley’s use of the word ‘shook’. 

In many ways, despite being set in an ambiguous context of somewhere in northern Britain, The Stranger shares qualities with the U.S. series Big Little Lies in its claustrophobic small-town atmosphere and incessant busy-bodying of each of its characters. Other features of the crime thriller genre are strongly sustained throughout the show, including the eager anticipation of an injured witness to awake, secrets, conspiracy, sudden and unexpected violence, institutional corruption and the easy unravelling of a stable life as once was known to the characters. 

Although the show gets by on its neat slotting into the archetypical crime thriller, The Stranger‘s few impressive actors struggle to drag it from the quagmire of mediocrity, which is further hindered by the weaker acting of supporting roles, and the overburdened plot threads. If you have an empty day looming and fancy an easy and exciting binge, give it a go. However, although the show’s ability to perplex and tease with easy cliff-hangers explains its mysterious addictiveness, there are certainly stronger binge-worthy crime thrillers available on Netflix.  

Rating = 3/5

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