The Wives on Channel 5 has all the credentials for a juicy thriller... But are the reviews going to be kind?

On paper, the six-part series looks like a winner. There's a dream team of popular female actresses - Jo Joyner, Angela Griffin, and Tamzin Outhwaite. There's a central mystery crying out to be solved. And the location is stunning. Malta has gone straight to the top of my bucket list.

But, is the six-part series going to live up to the hype? Here's TVGuide.co.uk's brutally honest review after watching...

Is The Wives worth watching?

The Wives is the latest thriller to land on Channel 5 and My5 (starting on Monday, September 16, 2024).

Most readers should know what to expect from a Channel 5 thriller by now. But, if you don't, here's our handy Dummies guide:

- a slightly bonkers plot

- preposterous twists

- popular (and preferably beautiful) cast

- beautiful locations

Thrillers like The Teacher, Love Rat, Heat, and For Her Sins aren't going to win any BAFTAs any time soon, but they ARE good fun. The Wives is no exception. It's untaxing, glossy, and bingeable.

If you're 'of a certain age' and female, The Wives is one for you. The cast are predominantly in their 40s and 50s and, for those viewers (like me), it's obviously going to be relatable. That's not to say you HAVE to be a woman of menopausal age, but the characters often remind us that that's where they're at.

This is good. We need more transparency about the menopause - half of the world go through it. Get. Over. It.

A warning to men, though: You don't get a great write-up here. The husbands are either cheating, uncaring, or manipulative.

But then, the female characters aren't exactly likeable either (more on that below) and it's one of the series' greatest flaws.

The Wives review: Where is Annabelle?

The central mystery in The Wives surrounds the disappearance of Annabelle. She's presumed dead, having gone missing on holiday in Malta the previous year.

Bizarrely, though, the family of brothers and their wives continue to visit the doomed holiday spot. But even more baffling is that no one - apart from sister-in-law Beth - seems to give two hoots about the missing family member.

It's been one year since Annabelle disappeared. But you wouldn't know it. This lot are far from the grieving family.

Admittedly, we don't want to tune in for a sob-fest either. But The Wives has the depth of a puddle. The characters feel shallow, and unauthentic. Yes, we'd like to go down the pub with them. But they don't feel like real, fleshed-out characters. It's a shame.

Creator Helen Black co-wrote Time series 2 with Jimmy McGovern, so we know she is capable of giving us three-dimensional characters.

The Wives on Channel 5 and My5 review

What The Wives does well is pack in the twists. As well as Annabelle's disappearance/murder, we have the added mystery surrounding her widowed husband.

We won't ruin your fun with spoilers here, but suffice to say that Jamie Bamber's character Charlie is icky at best. Whether he had any part in his wife's vanishing - well that's for you to work out.

Meanwhile, we have the secret relationship between Sylvie and her former brother-in-law Charlie, as well as the hidden shame of Natasha's bankrupty. All plenty enough to keep our interest piqued, and have us tuning in for more episodes.

Another reason to watch? Tamzin Outhwaite's fantastic wardrobe as Sylvie. We need to get our hands on that beach kimono. Perhaps more than we care about what happened to Annabelle (or THAT strawberry in episode 1)...

The Wives starts on Monday, September 16, 2024 at 9pm on Channel 5 and My5.