# The Five (2016)

> Twenty years after a young boy vanished following a cruel act by his older playmates, a detective finds his DNA at a murder scene and must reopen the past.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/58430

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 10
- Episode runtime: 45 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: drama, mystery, crime
- Created by: Harlan Coben
- Network: Sky One
- Cast: Tom Cullen, O-T Fagbenle, Lee Ingleby, Sarah Solemani, Lola Mae Loughran, Lee Boardman, Geraldine James, Michael Maloney
- TMDB rating: 7.5/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4370528/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: brisk
- Intensity: moderate
- Complexity: accessible
- Violence: mild
- Tone: brooding, suspenseful, melancholic, tense

## What critics say

Audiences rated the single season positively as a taut, emotionally charged missing-person mystery.

## Synopsis

The Five (2016) is a British mystery thriller miniseries created by Harlan Coben for Sky One. Danny Kenwood (O-T Fagbenle), now a detective, is pulled back into a childhood trauma when news arrives that the missing boy Jesse, Mark Wells's younger brother, has left DNA at a murder scene. Twenty years earlier, Danny, Mark (Tom Cullen), Pru (Sarah Solemani) and Slade (Lee Ingleby) were children in a park who turned cruelly on the little boy, and the guilt they share has been buried ever since. Across a ten-episode run the story moves between the present-day investigation and the fractured lives of the four former friends, each of whom has something to hide. Each episode peels back a layer of the old secret, and the search for a boy who may still be alive keeps the tension taut. The tone is brooding and suspenseful, with a melancholic undercurrent of regret and family grief. Fans of Harlan Coben adaptations, The Missing and Broadchurch will find resonance in its blend of a missing person hunt and a community reckoning. Suspense and emotion are balanced, with the search and the buried guilt driving each episode forward toward a grounded conclusion.

## Shows like The Five

- [The Missing (2014)](https://ember.film/tv/54870)
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- [Hold Tight (2022)](https://ember.film/tv/120161)
- [Requiem (2018)](https://ember.film/tv/66496)
- [Broadchurch (2013)](https://ember.film/tv/1343)
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- [Gone (2026)](https://ember.film/tv/1105189)
- [Unforgotten (2015)](https://ember.film/tv/55562)
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