CHRISTOPHER STEVENS discusses Number One Fan: This gripping celeb stalker drama has chilling echoes of Holly Willoughby’s ordeal
Number one fan (channel 5)
Rating: Four out of five stars
Too early? Holly Willoughby might think so. Channel 5 loves a topical thriller, but famed stalker drama Number One Fan veers dangerously close to the line between inspiration and infringement.
It was less than two years ago that security guard Gavin Plumb was sentenced to life in prison, with a minimum term of 16 years, for plotting to kidnap, rape and murder the former This Morning presenter.
Severely shaken, Miss Willoughby left the magazine show and has rarely been seen on screen since.
In this four-part late-night potboiler, Jill Halfpenny plays a character who is so much a mix of Holly and her former ITV colleague Lorraine Kelly that it borders on outright satire.
As host of Lucy Logan Live, she chats to her guests on a curved velvet sofa the length of a warship, before dashing into the studio kitchen to get a taste of what’s cooking, while making sure the camera gets a good look at her outfit – part of a brand collection that’s available online, of course.
Lucy has perfected a style of cynical sincerity. “To everyone watching,” she says, pressing her hand to her bosom, “thank you from the bottom of my heart.”
She does her best to remain friendly off-screen, beaming at the makeup artist and asking about her driver’s old mother. But the sweeter her smile, the more certain we are that “beautiful Lucy” is all an act.
The number one fan of the title is Sally Lindsay, who plays against type as the obsessed prowler Donna.
“Jill Halfpenny (pictured) plays a character who is so much a mix of Holly and her former ITV colleague Lorraine Kelly that it borders on outright satire,” writes Christopher Stevens
Sally Lindsay (pictured, top) plays obsessed prowler Donna, while Jill Halfpenny (pictured, bottom) plays Lucy Logan
She stages a robbery in the parking lot of the supermarket where Lucy shops, and tackles the fake bag thief by ramming him with a cart.
“I’m ex-military, training begins,” she declares, and Lucy falls for it: she invites Donna for a tour of the studio and showers her with freebies. Soon Donna is acting like she is her new best friend.
If that were the entire plot, Number One Fan could be an intriguing exploration of where the line is drawn between celebrities and the rest of us. Morning TV hosts really urge us to consider them friends. What happens if some people take that too literally?
But Channel 5 doesn’t do subtle psychological questions – and so it soon becomes apparent that Donna is seeking revenge for the death of someone she thinks Lucy killed.
Meanwhile, Lucy’s son gets involved with online eco-terrorists, her husband is on the brink of bankruptcy, and a farmer named Stewart (Dean Andrews) sends her a box of cow manure every month, all dressed up in a pretty pink bow.
Stewart pins her photo to the wall and shoots him with darts while he drinks whiskey. Ominously, he keeps a chair in his shed with rope brackets dangling from the arms.
Who is that intended for? I doubt Holly Willoughby is watching to find out, but I have to admit I’m in the mood for this overheated shocker.