• Published date: 25 September 2022

In Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds, the director famously evoked a sense of terror by showing a flock of crows gradually growing larger on a children’s playground. In new British thriller Witness Number 3 this device is deployed to almost as foreboding effect by swapping out the crows for menacing lads wearing hoodies

It’s all part of a campaign of intimidation and harassment being launched against local hairdresser Jodie (Bodyguard’s Nina Toussaint-White), the titular third witness to a crime she just happened to glimpse for a second as she opened up her salon one morning.

“Thanks for coming forward,” says the police officer taking her statement. “Honestly, it’s not a problem,” she replies, a sign saying “Dramatic Irony Alert” practically flashing above her head.

It is, of course, a very big problem, because the crime she glimpsed — bloke in a black hoodie manhandling a bloke in a grey...