Sheridan Smith Shines in Gripping BBC Thriller

has been branded 'superb' for her role in the 'astonishing and deeply moving' thriller The Cage as viewers binge watch the gritty new show.  

The five-part drama hit screens on One on April 26 and is also available to watch on iPlayer. 

'Leanne and Matty are both robbing from the same casino – setting them on a high-stakes crash course with gangsters, police... and each other,' BBC iPlayer's synopsis reads.  

The show stars actress Sheridan as Leanne and Michael Socha as Matty.

The pair are joined by the likes of Barry Sloane, Geraldine James, Sue Jenkins, Abby Mavers, Louis Emerick and Ian Puleston-Davies. 

Although the show only landed on Sunday, many critics have been able to watch the series and shared their thoughts. 

The Telegraph's Anita Singh's headline states: 'Sheridan Smith is superb in the gripping follow-up to The Responder.'

She adds: 'Smith brings her natural warmth to the role of Leanne, a single mother who is caring for a grandmother with dementia and facing eviction.

'Socha, an actor who deserves to be a bigger deal, is a lovable loser called Matty who is in the grip of a gambling addiction. 

'His eyebrows are two punctuation marks of despair. The series opens with the The’s This is the Day (it’s a great soundtrack): “This is the day, your life will surely change/This is the day, when things fall into place.” It’s not, and they won’t.

'Matty is the casino manager and Leanne is the cashier. When they each discover that the other is cooking the books, taking a little bit here and a little bit there, they team up. 

'It’s the classic story of amateurs getting in over their heads and finding themselves at the mercy of serious criminals.'

The Guardian's Lucy Mangan's describes the new show as 'an astonishing, deeply moving state-of-the-nation thriller'.

She writes: 'The Cage works as a companion piece to The Responder, giving a voice to and empathising more with the people Freeman’s character likened to whack-a-moles in trackie bottoms than with those attempting to corral them.

'A state-of-the-other-nation piece, perhaps.' 

In contrast, The Times writer Carol Midgley says: 'The premise of The Cage (BBC1), his new series, didn’t really float my boat. 

'I find casinos a turn-off, both in real life and in TV dramas: the flashy lights, garish carpets, black glass and flinty-eyed ambience all designed to relieve you of as much money as possible and usually filled with people in whom I have no interest. 

'I couldn’t see how something set in this world, which is alien to so many, could have the raw, jagged authenticity that made The Responder special.

'The Cage isn’t really about casinos, though, even though it’s set in one. It is about the things that desperate, struggling people will do, people who are in financial trouble for all different kinds of reasons and which are not always their fault. 

'It shows how, when you are in a certain kind of trap, the world is rigged against you.'

But Metro's Adam Miller's headline states: 'Sheridan Smith’s The Cage is one of the most distinctive BBC thrillers in years.'

He adds: 'But The Cage is a rare kind of thriller. It doesn’t rely on relentless grit or gratuitous violence, nor does it demand to be watched through trembling fingers. 

'Instead, it offers heart, warmth, and, beneath the menace of its genuinely frightening villains, a story about two working-class parents just trying to play the best hand with the worst possible cards.

'It’s a refreshing change in a landscape where thrillers compete to outdo each other with shock and increasingly absurd twists. 

'This is anything but absurd; it’s grounded, relatable, and a sharply observed portrayal of what it means to struggle in a world that seems designed for people like Matty and Leanne to fail.

'That alone is enough to make it one of the most distinctive BBC thrillers in years.'

The Independent's Nick Hilton writes: 'Where The Responder was relentless and bleak, The Cage has a lighter touch. 

'Hardened drug lords gather around a TV showing Escape to the Country. “That’s the dream, eh,” one observes. “Run away from it all.” 

'This streak of sentimentality and humour leavens some of Schumacher’s trademark gloom, but it does also introduce triteness. 

'As such, The Cage feels like its heroes: sweet and simple, not bad but not terribly good either.'