television drama The Cage is now streaming on iPlayer with a perfect 100% Rotten Tomatoes score. Sheridan Smith leads the series as Leanne, a single mother working as a cashier running the cage at the Envoy Casino, where the story turns on cash missing from inside the operation.
Michael Socha plays Matty, the casino manager battling a gambling addiction, and the pair start out hiding their own thefts before the pressure of gangsters, police and each other closes in. Tony Schumacher directed the series, which is drawing attention because the rating is flawless while the show’s future already stops at series two.
Sheridan Smith and Michael Socha
Sheridan Smith’s role gives the series its commercial hook: Leanne is not written as a detached observer, but as the person handling money at the cage while also concealing her own theft. Michael Socha’s Matty adds the other side of the same fraud, and that setup gives the series a clean, readable engine that critics and viewers can immediately grasp.
The reviews explain why the score landed where it did. Lucy Mangan called it a “TV triumph,” while one Rotten Tomatoes reviewer called it “Compulsive viewing. A cracking script that manages to be both amusing and disturbing and some fine performances, especially from the two leads. Will deserve to be in the BAFTA nominations when the time comes.” Andrew Anthony wrote, “It’s rare today to see a portrayal of working people that isn’t patronising or freighted with tick-box political fashions, from beneath which the characters struggle to emerge. But this is British drama at its best.”
Rotten Tomatoes and IMDb
One IMDb reviewer wrote, “We absolutely loved this!” Another said the acting was superb and the show was totally absorbing, while a further review praised the series as intense from the start and not predictable. Those reactions help explain why the perfect Rotten Tomatoes score is not just a tidy marketing line; it points to a broad critical and viewer consensus around performance, writing and tone.
The catch is the series was not renewed for series two. That leaves iPlayer as the practical next stop for anyone who wants to watch what the reviews are praising, but also a one-season title that now has to earn its audience through availability rather than future episodes.
iPlayer now
For viewers, the immediate move is simple: stream The Cage on iPlayer and judge the gap between the 100% Rotten Tomatoes score and the show’s abrupt end point for yourself. The series offers the kind of tightly drawn, performance-led TV that can travel well after the fact, and this is the moment to catch it while the conversation is still hot.
