'It felt spine-chilling': New 'high-stakes' BBC crime drama The Cage starring Sheridan Smith gets even darker than you could imagine — especially after episode 5

The series hits BBC iPlayer from April 26

25 Apr 2026, 07:00 by https://www.techradar.com/uk/author/jasmine-valentine · TechRadar

Features By Jasmine Valentine published 25 April 2026

Sheridan Smith is joined by Michael Socha. (Image credit: BBC)

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BBC iPlayer never leaves us high and dry when it comes to bingeable crime dramas. From April 26, the six-part "high-stakes" series The Cage joins the streamer's back catalog.

Starring Sheridan Smith, Michael Socha, Barry Sloane, and Geraldine James, the series follows Leanne (Smith) and Matty (Socha), who discover they are both robbing from the safe at the casino they work in.

As the BBC puts it, "their lives are set on a collision course; with each other, the local gangster they're stealing from, and the police."

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It's got everything and the kitchen sink thrown at it, put it that way. But if things don't seem dramatic enough as The Cage begins, you don't have to wait too long until the trauma ramps up.

For its cast, it's episode 5 that you have to watch out for — and it's the part they're the most proud of.

'I've only got one way to work, and it's full-throttle'

The Cage | Trailer - BBC - YouTube

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"It's mine and Barry's scene in episode 5," James tells me when I ask her what she's proudest of in the series. The pair play Gary (Sloane), a local criminal, and his mother Nancy (James), who owns the casino where the drama takes place.

"I felt his spine chilling. It was amazing writing, and to be so in the moment was very revealing. It's a wonderful thing when you have to prepare. But when you get there, and somebody like Barry Sloane throws something back at you, it becomes totally different from what you thought it was going to be."

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