the people next door

[hairymelonwalton]

anyone else going to be watching this. looks like abit of a edge of your seat thriller

I think that's the point was trying to make.

Don't watch and wait or try to gather your own evidence. Just keep calling police until something gets done.

In trying to help the boy she inadvertently told the parents they were on to them so at some point between finding them in the house and the police conducting a search they've scurried the boy away.

I'm guessing there was a gap between the couple leaving next doors house and the police arriving so any hiding of children/dropping off at granny's could have happened.

But i still dont like it. It should have had an answer. Unless there is a second part.

But I thought the boy lived with his grandparents.

I get what you said re scurrying the child away though cold.

Yes RudeElf it was too openended for my liking.

Will have to ask brother who's a film maker what he thought of it.

Unlikely police would of searched house straight, there was no reason to on the face of it. The couple were the ones in someone else's house.

The police would of got a warrant to come back and search because she told them about the boy.

Plenty of time for them to hide him or take him elsewhere.

They could hear crying. The police could knock and try for an answer but if they heard the crying from the couples spare room then how could they not go in?

Would police really go away and wait for a warrant if they heard a child crying in the house and no response from knocking the door?

I think the pregnant neighbour ended up convinced she'd got it all wrong but couldn't handle living there anymore. You'd always be thinking about that little boy wouldn't you?

I know i couldnt stay living there. If even just for the noise! But really because you would be constantly aware of what you knew you heard.

Would the police hear crying though? Unlikely with all the commotion going on with the two couples in the house. From the polices initial point of view they are attending a break in.

And abused children learn to go quiet very quickly when they hear their abuser.

I thought the ending meant the pregnant couple had moved and were selling. Then the little girl said the cat was Harper meaning Charlie was gone or dead or at Gran's place? But then the new spotlight hear other things.

I'm not convinced there was a child being abused - but that's possibly because it would be such a dreadful storyline.

It was all very sinister but quite a strong message I thought.

I hate open ended things though. I want the little boy to be rescued

But then again, I suppose that's what makes it such a strong message, we don't know if he's ok or ever will be because the opportunity to help him was missed.

Would the police hear crying though? Unlikely with all the commotion going on with the two couples in the house.

Oh i meant if the couple had called the police instead of going into the house. So if the police came and heard through the wall there was a child crying, and then couldnt get an answer at the door, could they just go on in?

I think the couple that moved away would have been reassured that the house had been checked and may have felt they got it wrong. Whether the house had been checked or not we'll never know. Investigator may have said it just to shut pregnant lady up!

The police wouldn't have checked without having reasonable suspicion plus PPs are right, parents had time to move him if he was there.

I'm going to pretend that the boy did live with Gran and that it was a misunderstanding. The alternative is too heart wrenching.

the people next door

Ch4 say it "speaks loudly to the increasing mistrust many Britons have about what might be happening on their own doorstep"

And they hope "the audience find it both riveting and thought provoking in equal measure"

Sounds like CH4 created it not to raise any awareness of abused children slipping through the net but as an example of how closed off we are from our neighbours. Which of course is more important than missed child abuse baffles me why they chose such a harrowing and very real subject to base their drama on if they werent even going to use it for the benefit of those suffering.

I'm not sure about it. Surely there would be a record of the boy and where he lives which you'd think the police would check. It wouldn't just be a case of the police searching the house on that one occasion and not finding him and that being the end of it. The couple didnt deny his existence, they just said that he didn't live there. So I would expect that the police/SS would have checked all that out?

Yes it was done very badly rollergirl a real half assed job.

The show i mean.

Ah I see RudeElf, sorry misunderstood.

Yes I think you're right, if they'd called the police when she thought they'd left a small child home alone it would of given the police perfect reason to gain entry and the they would of found him while the parents were out.

I was disappointed with the ending. There must be some trace of that kid? Plus i can't think of anyone (and I know a few nutters) that would go down the path Gemma did.

My neighbours went into my house (uninvited) when i was on holiday but it was for good intentions. They filled it full of balloons for my birthday they also dug up part of my garden and gave me a crazy paving patio as my "present" have to say i wouldnt have put it past them to have gone in if they suspected abuse too.

None of it made any sense. You would just keep calling the police rather than buying nanny cams etc. It was purposely ambiguous right to the end whether the little boy even existed let alone if he lived there and was being abused, which is absolute tosh. The woman kept asking if they had checked the back room and the police said they had and there was nothing suspicious but still didn't mention the boy.

Blimey! I hope you liked the patio!

I agree the teddy cam was very far fetched and can't see how anyone would do that rather than phone the police. I suppose the idea behind it was that as she got no where with social services she felt she had to take matters into her own hands and it just snowballed.

I think the film makers were trying to make an important point about child protection but missed the mark somewhat. Too confusing and ambiguous.

It was awful but a nice, if somewhat intrusive, gesture. Tbh i think they wanted an excuse to use my garden for drinking in. Theirs was tiny and sunless.