James Norton ITV drama Playing Nice branded ‘load of nonsense’ by viewers

New series sees two couples navigate the upending of their lives when they find out their babies were switched at birth

Viewers of the new ITV drama Playing Nice have branded the show as “nonsense” and “unbelievable” after finding holes in the plot.

The series, based on a novel by JP Delaney, follows two families navigating the total upending of their domestic lives when they find out that an administrative error at the hospital led to their babies being accidentally switched at birth.

Starring James Norton and Niamh Algar as one couple, Pete and Maddie, and James McArdle and Jessica Brown Findlay as the other parents, Miles and Lucy, the show sees relations between the two families descend into chaos and deceit.

Though the plot sounds plausible – as baby mix-ups do happen –as the show progresses, the storyline becomes increasingly improbable.

Viewers have been picking holes in the plot, such as the moment when the two couples are allowed to meet – and drink prosecco – without a third-party mediator from the authorities or hospital present.

“I cannot believe for a second that both couples would just be allowed to meet one another without professional mediation or supervision. Have the hospital authorities just shared addresses and told them to get on with it?” wrote one viewer on X/Twitter,

“AS IF THEY ARE HAVING BUBBLY, I think a cup of Tetley would’ve been more appropriate in this situation,” said one viewer, as another added: “Surely the two couples wouldn’t be introduced or their details shared, for legal reasons. Would they?”

“15 minutes into #PlayingNice and what an absolute load of nonsense this is already,” concluded another.

James Norton in ‘Playing Nice’ (BBC)

However, others have been gripped by the drama, with one viewer writing: “As unrealistic as it is, #PlayingNice is a bit good. Miles is a complete weirdo but there’s gonna be a big twist at one point.”

“Binged all of @ITVX’s #PlayingNice and it is fantastic! So glad it ended the way it did because I’ve never felt such hatred for a certain character before!”

The show has been critically panned, withThe Independent’s TV critic Nick Hilton calling the series a “whiplash-inducing, overripe shock fest” in his two-star review.

“Norton – who seems trapped on ITV when, by rights, he should be a movie star – provides a lacklustre performance, while Algar is offered little more than the opportunity to look worried,” writes Hilton.

“It’s a shame, because there’s a good human thriller buried in there, about the interpersonal challenges of unriddling an unthinkable situation. But what we get, instead, is another whiplash-inducing, overripe shock fest, which privileges handbrake turns over steady handling.”

Meanwhile, The Guardian’s Rachel Aroesti called the thriller “mind-bendingly bad”, adding that it’s the “worst of modern television: a witless mystery overly reliant on insidious ambience and really nice houses”.