Did anyone else catch the first episode of HBO’s new miniseries, Five Days? The co-production with the BBC is about a British mother and her two children who disappear and leave a massive manhunt and media frenzy in their wake. The title would make you think that the mystery plays out over five consecutive days, but it’s actually a three-month ordeal with a focus on the five most pivotal days. Buzz for the series has kind of drowned in the hullabaloo over the new season, but it definitely deserves your attention.

Five Days explores one of my favorite (and the most frustrating) topics in contemporary media: the fascination with missing and/or murdered blonde women. In this case, it’s Leanne Wellings - a woman who pulls over to buy flowers from a roadside stand and seemingly falls off the face of the earth. She leaves her two biracial children (and their new puppy!) behind in the car, and despite it being 2007, they crawl over the cellular phone in the front seat and go wondering across the British countryside and ultimately wind up in a kidnapper van. The three month time frame of the series makes me think that the fate of Leanne and her children won’t be the brightest (missing ladies are like people in comas – if things don’t clear up in the first couple of days, they’re pretty much screwed), but there are apparently enough twists and turns over the next four episodes to shock even the most jaded TV watcher.

The second episode airs tonight, and suspicions turn to husband and father Matt when he’s reluctant to address the press. I don’t think he’s behind the disappearance, but he’s definitely shady. Busting your mobile in the middle of the night? Arguing about rusty shivs? Owning a motorcycle? These are not characteristics of a man on the right side of the law. The only thing that’s clear at this point is that nobody makes a miniseries like the Brits. Check it out.

Five Days airs Tuesdays at 8pm on NBC