For Her Sins viewers blast ‘formulaic and slow-paced’ Channel 5 psychological thriller

For Her Sins viewers have labelled Channel 5’s new ‘formulaic’ psychological thriller and said they’ve ‘lost interest’ just two episodes into the series.

The four-part season – which is airing on consecutive nights this week – follows mother-of-two Laura (played by Jo Joyner), who befriends a seemingly charming woman called Emily.  

Gradually, Laura’s picture-perfect life starts falling apart around her and the mother is haunted by flashbacks of a drowning child. 

As the show progresses, it becomes apparent that Emily (who is played by Rachel Shenton) is determined to wreak havoc on Laura’s life.

Early on in the series, the brunette beauty – who is hiding secrets of her own – is shown speaking on the phone to an unknown person and telling them: ‘It’s definitely her.’ 

Although viewers were gripped to begin with, last night’s episode didn’t go down so well with audiences.

While the show was airing, Twitter users shared their disappointment over how the episode was panning out.

Hitting out at the ‘formulaic’ storylines, one moaned: ‘Recipe for a Channel 5 drama – drowning flashbacks, sinister background music, time filling outside shots of family house, ex soap actress. 

‘And soooo slow!’ 

Meanwhile, another added: ‘I’ve lost interest…’ 

What’s more, others said they struggled to immerse themselves in the drama as a result of Emily’s phone.

A third wrote: ‘For the love of God, put your phone on mute!!!’ 

Commenting on how the character was trying to take a discreet picture, a fourth said: ‘At least have a silent shutter on your phone.’ 

Although viewers were gripped to begin with, some struggled to get into last night’s episode of the new drama

The new Channel 5 drama stars EastEnders actress Jo Joyner and Rachel Shenton (pictured hugging)

However, not everyone was so critical of the episode – with one fan gushing about how much they enjoyed Jo’s performance as Laura.

They tweeted: ‘Love Jo Joyner. Riptide was a total waste of her talents.’

Turning the attention back to Emily, another said: ‘She might be a manipulative psycho but she certainly has lovely hair. How does she keep it so long and thick…..?’ 

Earlier this month, Jo – who played Ranya Branning in EastEnders – discussed her latest role in an interview with the Radio Times.

She said: ‘Laura’s not sure if she’s a nice person, ultimately, and whether she deserves to have a nice life, or deserves to have children, for various reasons.

‘Deep down, she lacks a lot of self-esteem and doubts herself. She doesn’t feel like good fun at all. She’s forgotten who she is.’

In the first episode, viewers find out that Laura keeps a box of newspaper clippings  about a boy called Jamie who drowned at a holiday destination years ago.

Although the relationship between Emily and Jamie is unclear to begin with, the audience is led to believe that Emily somehow blames her new friend for his death.

For Her Sins continues tonight at 9pm on Channel 5.