Too Good To Be True is a Channel 5 thriller that follows cash-strapped single mother Rachel (Kara Tointon), who works impossibly long hours as a cleaner trying to support her son, Liam (Charlie Hodson-Prior).
She's hit rock bottom, unable to afford to pay the bills and feed both herself and Liam, and she's in debt to loan companies. Not to mention her abusive ex Kieron, who steals money from her and threatens to take their son away.
Her luck turns around when she's offered the job of a lifetime, a cleaning position at a private property that promises to pay far more than her current roles.
Her new wealthy client is a man named Elliot (Allen Leech), who seems kind and compassionate at first, but is everything as it seems?
Episode 1 introduces us to Rachel's life, as well as her new employer. Here's what went down in the pilot...
The opportunity of a lifetime
The episode opens with a woman and a young boy fleeing from someone. They head straight for a garage and get inside the car, with the woman frantically trying to start the engine. A man is heard shouting outside, before the scene cuts.
We pick up again three weeks earlier. The same boy we saw in the car at the beginning of the episode is asleep on a sofa in a hotel lobby and is woken up by his mother, Rachel. She works as a cleaner in the hotel and is trying to provide for her son, whose name is Liam.
Rachel scolds Liam and tells him he shouldn't be wandering around the lobby while she's working, and he apologizes and says it is comfy in there. Rachel has been working the early shifts and takes Liam with her, before taking him to school afterwards when her shift is over.
She takes Liam into one of the rooms while she works, as he plays with the chess set while Rachel cleans the room. The guest returns to the room and sees Liam playing with the set, and gets annoyed, with Rachel saying Liam needs to behave otherwise she'll get fired.
While putting the bins out, she's scared as a hooded man emerges from behind them. She tells him it's private property and he shouldn't be loitering, before learning he's been feeding a stray cat after Liam points it out. They dash off to catch the bus and the man watches them leave, holding the cat.
While on the bus, Rachel gets a text message from a payday loan company reminding her that her repayments are overdue. She looks very worried and puts her head in her hands. Rachel arrives at her second job, at the home of a woman who scolds her for being late, telling her if she pays for three hours she expects "three hours graft".
After she's finished, she bumps into a colleague called Jasmine at work who tries to persuade her to come out for a drink, but she tells her she's skint. They chat and Rachel admits that Liam is "driving her insane".
Rachel stops by her boss Geoff's office and tells him she needs more hours because she can't make the money stretch, and he tells her she's already doing more jobs than anyone in the company and that it's not possible for her to take on more.
In a surprising turn of events, the woman from the hotel earlier arrives to speak to Geoff, saying her name is Simone and she's come about Rachel. Geoff asks if there's a problem and she says no, and that she represents someone who would like to engage her on a "private basis".
Geoff is confused, asking why she's come all this way just to hire a cleaner, and Simone stresses that her client is "very particular". Geoff doesn't want to let Rachel go as she's a valued member of his team, but Simone says the client will pay "whatever it takes".
Rachel agrees to meet with Jasmine for a drink and they talk about dating apps, but she's worried about "putting Liam through that again". Jasmine tells her that they won't "all be like Kieron".
When Rachel comes home, Kieron is there with Liam and the two argue. She accuses him of only wanting money but she has none and she's already been dealing with bailiffs. He makes a snide comment about her having money for drink and she gets angry, telling him that Jasmine paid.
He threatens her by grabbing her neck and she picks up a knife in self-defence. He sneers at her and says "you wouldn't want to lose Liam, would you?". Rachel and Kieron stop when Liam appears in the doorway, and Kieron leaves, but not before taking money from her purse despite her saying it's for Liam's school trip.
When Rachel takes Liam to school the next day, his teacher pulls her to one side and explains there was "an incident" where he brought a dead bird into class, and the other students were upset by it. The teacher asks if something is going on at home, and Rachel gets defensive.
Rachel cries on the bus to work, breaking down due to the stress of Kieron taking her money and her teacher expressing concern for Liam, but composes herself so she can see Geoff in his office.
Geoff explains about Simone's visit and how a client was interested in her, offering to pay her double, perhaps more. He asks Rachel if "something else was going on" and she takes offence, before he stops her and says perhaps this job is the perfect opportunity for her, and that the client doesn't seem to want anything other than a clean house.
She asks Geoff to accompany her to meet the client and he agrees, but says it's a one off and following that, she's on her own. Rachel, Liam and Geoff all arrive at this very luxurious-looking home, and Geoff waits in the car while they go inside.
Rachel meets Simone inside the house where she reveals her employer chose Rachel and that he relaxed some of his "usual protocols", but Rachel is still confused about why she was chosen out of all the other cleaners. The meeting is quite frosty and Simone doesn't seem to take too kindly to Rachel, but is following her employer's orders.
Simone relays some strict orders about the house, such as areas of the property she can and can't enter, and doors she can't open, which Rachel seems slightly amused by. She's given the job on the spot and Simone says she's got a two-week trial period to prove herself.
Rachel is still very confused by the whole thing, as she doesn't even know the name of the man who hired her, but she gets straight to work. Rachel steals supplies from the fridge to make Liam a sandwich and confronts him about his behaviour at school, hoping he'll stop bringing animals inside.
Later, Rachel snoops around the property and tries to understand more about her employer, but is interrupted when she hears Liam playing the piano downstairs. She tells him to stop touching things because she really needs the job.
Rachel goes out with Jasmine again and explains the nature of the job, and Jasmine is in disbelief, but supports her decision. When Rachel gets home, she goes into her room and is shocked to find it tidy, as she swore she left some clothes on the bed earlier that morning. She panics and closes the windows and doors.
The next day, Rachel goes back to the house with Liam. She snoops around and finds a wardrobe filled with women's clothing, so she pulls out a luxurious red dress and tries it on, and we see a camera has been watching her do it. Liam calls for her saying someone has arrived, and she hurriedly redresses.
She meets Elliot, the man who owns the property, and is shocked to see he was the homeless man with the cat she met earlier. He confirms he is not homeless and has even brought the cat home with him, much to Liam's delight.
Elliot shows them around, including his large garage where he restores cars, and Rachel seems shocked by just how nice and accommodating he is, being especially kind towards Liam.
Things seem to be turning around for Rachel and Liam; they bring the cat home and get a new TV just like Elliot's, but Rachel still has her doubts. And they seem valid, considering he's watching her via a hidden camera...
