Number One Fan (Channel 5) earns a rating of four out of five stars. Too soon? Holly Willoughby might think so. Channel 5 loves a topical thriller, but its celebrity stalker drama Number One Fan looms dangerously close to the line between inspiration and intrusion.
It is less than two years since 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. Badly shaken, Miss Willoughby quit the magazine show and has been seen on screen only rarely since then.
In this four-part nightly potboiler, Jill Halfpenny plays a character who is so much a blend of Holly and her former ITV colleague Lorraine Kelly, it is verging on outright satire. As the presenter of Lucy Logan Live, she chats to her guests on a curving velour sofa the length of a battleship, before dashing to the studio kitchen for a taste of whatever is cooking, while making sure the camera gets a good look at her outfit — part of a brand-name range available online, naturally.
Lucy has perfected a style of cynical sincerity. 'To everybody watching,' she says, pressing her hand to her bosom, 'thank you from the bottom of my heart.' She works hard at staying kind off-screen, twinkling at the make-up artist and asking after her driver's old mum. But the more saccharine her smile, the more certain we are that 'lovely Lucy' is all an act.
The title's Number One Fan is Sally Lindsay, playing against type as obsessed prowler Donna. She stages a mugging in the car park of the supermarket where Lucy shops, and tackles the fake bag-snatcher by ramming him with a trolley. 'I am ex-military, the training kicks in,' she declares, and Lucy falls for it — inviting Donna for a tour of the studio and showering her with freebies. Pretty soon, Donna is acting like she is her new best friend.
If that were the whole plot, Number One Fan could be an intriguing exploration of where the line between celebrities and the rest of us is drawn. Morning TV hosts really do urge us to think of them as friends. What happens when some people take that too literally? But Channel 5 does not do subtle psychological questions — and so, it soon transpires that Donna is seeking vengeance for the death of someone she believes Lucy killed.
Meanwhile, Lucy's son is mixed up with online eco-terrorists, her husband is on the verge of bankruptcy, and a farmer called Stewart (Dean Andrews) sends her a box of cow dung every month, all done up in a pretty pink bow. Stewart pins her picture to the wall and peppers it with darts as he swigs whisky. Ominously, he keeps a chair in his barn with rope restraints dangling from the arms. Who is that meant for? I doubt if Holly Willoughby is watching to find out, but I confess I am in the mood for this super-heated shocker.
