'The Couple Next Door' Sets Up an Overly Complicated Web of Not-Sexy Drama

The reviews for The Couple Next Door are in and they aren't great. However, if you heard the words "Sam Heughan erotic thriller" and came for the plot, that's a personal problem. Today, we are only talking about the first episode of the six-part first season, and while it's not perfect, it did check the boxes regarding what one should expect from the aforementioned description.

Alfred Enoch (The Critic) and Eleanor Tomlinson (Poldark) star in the Eagle Eye drama as Pete and Evie, a young couple that moves into an idyllic new neighborhood in Leeds, only to discover that their picture-perfect neighborhood is not what it seems. They are immediately greeted at their moving truck by their next-door neighbors, Danny (Heughan) and Becka (Jessica De Gow). While Evie is immediately taken with the couple, investigative journalist Pete isn't so sure about the enthusiastically fit duo. That all changes when Evie experiences a miscarriage shortly into the premiere episode. She and Pete have been struggling to get pregnant and went through two rounds of IVF before a sperm donor finally did the trick. Evie is devastated to learn that the third try also won't lead to another baby, and Becka is right there to pick up the pieces, cementing her friendship with Evie.

Pete is a supportive husband, but he's wracked with his own insecurities about not being able to get his wife pregnant. Those insecurities aren't helped by looking at Danny every day (which we totally get, dude. That is an unfair standard to measure yourself with). Distrust turns to intrigue when Pete catches Danny and Becka sharing a very affectionate nightcap with a couple they met on vacation. It's wild how no one on this show has considered closing their curtains or blinds, and they flaunt their personal business in front of their windows, but that is not a complaint.