The Stolen Girl review: Denise Gough and Holliday Grainger show how thrillers should be done

Then, there's the poster, made up of the floating heads of its three female leads above a grand looking house. It's fair to say the marketing and branding around this has all been fairly broad and lowest common denominator, making the series out to be like any run of the mill thriller you might find on 5 or, dare we say it of late, Netflix.

However, that all does The Stolen Girl a disservice - yes, it's a shlocky thriller, filled with ridiculous twists and baiting cliffhangers. But it's also an exceptional rendition of that format, a properly propulsive, fun and engaging romp with some darkness under its hood.

The Stolen Girl stars Denise Gough and Jim Sturgess as Elisa and Fred, parents to two children, including a daughter, Lucia. They are middle class, well-to-do, and seemingly fairly ordinary, with a solid marriage and family dynamic.

One day, Lucia introduces Elisa to her new friend Josie, and she gets to meet Josie's mum, Rebecca, played by Holliday Grainger. Lucia asks if she can go on a playdate to visit Josie's house and, having been comforted by Rebecca's demeanour, Elisa obliges.

Later, she gets a call from Lucia, asking to sleep over. Elisa is hesitant, but after visiting Rebecca's large, spotless house, and being reassured by her, she agrees.

The next day, the nightmare sets in - Rebecca doesn't drop Lucia home at the correct time and isn't answering their calls. When Elisa and Fred turn up at the house, they find it is a holiday rental, and Rebecca, Josie and Lucia have all vanished.

Thus begins a nationwide, and eventually international, manhunt to find Lucia and bring her home, with Bronagh Waugh's Shona heading up the investigating, while Ambika Mod's journalist Selma does her own digging to uncover the truth.

You probably have a sense of what will transpire as the five-episode season progresses - secrets spill out, red herrings are delivered, there are twists aplenty and eventually it all culminates in a dramatic finale, full of reveals.

It's a tried and tested formula, and there have been plenty of thrillers in recent years where that test has been failed - not necessarily in viewership, but more so in quality.

Too many of these shows reach for shock value first, and fail to deliver with their denouements, or with any worthwhile character development.

That is where The Stolen Girl differs. It doesn't do anything that new, but what it does do it does well, thanks to some sharp writing, some effective rug pulls and an absolutely stellar cast, clearly invested in the material.

Gough is superb as Elisa, and naturally has to go to some places of extreme emotion with the character. It's to her credit that she still gives Elisa some necessary edge, rather than allowing her to become simply an inconsolable mother or a victim.

Sturgess, Mod and Waugh are all strong in their roles, but it is Grainger who is the standout. Her character has to go through so many iterations, and there's so much we only learn about her as it is unspooled across the episodes.

She has to be at times unknowable, lest we start to feel certain in her presence one way or another - whether we would be reassured or feel a real level of tension. At the same time, she has to feel like a real person, and all of this has to coalesce at the end once we uncover the whole truth.

Grainger manages to accomplish all this and more, excelling in both the quieter moments and also those in which the character goes through real anguish or feels real fury. It's a fantastic performance, one which elevates the entire series.

The series is obviously touching on some very primal fears for parents, and it doesn't shy away from the terror and turmoil this sort of event would incur. It also tackles some other seriously dark subject matter, and viewers should be prepared for that.

But it also doesn't become a sob-fest, indulging in its own misery and darkness. Instead, it plays around with moral ambiguity and complexity, making the audience question whose side they should be on, and constantly shifting the dial of perception.

Naturally, the characters go to some extreme places and the plot takes some turns which may not entirely bear credence when put under scrutiny, but isn't that what we want from a thriller?

No one's pressing play on The Stolen Girl hoping for a social-realist drama. They're looking for entertainment first and foremost, and that it provides in spades.

The characters are well developed and engaging, and most importantly feel like real people, rather than pieces on a chess board, purely in service of the story.

For the most part its five-episode runtime is very welcome - the series is set up as the ultimate binge, with cliffhangers that leave you desperate to dive into the next instalment. Adding any further episodes could have slowed down the breakneck pace, and been to the show's detriment.

However, there are some storylines and themes which go somewhat underdeveloped due to the breakneck speed. For instance, the series appears to be trying to examine the way social media intersects with investigations, and look at how families use their own heartbreaking circumstances to boost awareness and gain sympathy - even if they are somewhat exploiting themselves and their loved ones.

It's an interesting theme to explore, but ultimately goes largely under the radar, only being picked up for the briefest of examinations before being dropped in favour of the larger plot developments.

It's probably for the best in the long-run, but it almost feels as though it could have been largely excised from the plot entirely, so as to not seem like a forgotten thread.

Given that it's telling the story of an international manhunt, the series also gets to visit some stunning locations across Europe, and makes good use of them.

The series is visually just as enticing as you would want it to be, having shot in Manchester and France, and using the contrast between those two locations to great effect.

All in all, if you have any sense whatsoever of the genre and tone that The Stolen Girl is playing in, and if you have an appetite for such shows, then you'd be hard pressed to go wrong by choosing it for an evening's entertainment.

Sure, it's pulpy, formulaic, at times absurd - but it's also rooted in humanity, knows exactly the strings it's trying to pull and does so to great effect, with well done twists, note-perfect performances and a satisfying resolution. What's not to like?

The Stolen Girl is available to stream on Disney+ now.

Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.