Somewhere Boy

In 'The Truman Show', a man grows up on the set of a virtual reality TV show, unaware of the "real" world outside. Yet Truman's reality is so like real life it's hard to feel so much is at stake when he tries to escape. The epnomymous 'Somewhere Boy' is this drama is kept cooped up a in Yorkshire farmhouse by his father, who tells him there are monsters outside. Although unlikely, you can imagine this happening; but what would be look like to be such a child, then to venture outside for the first time? Unfortunately, the drama struggles to meet the challenge it has set itself, and there's a dissonance between the ordinariness of the main story (with its shy but essentially normal protagonist) and the gothic horror of his backstory. More like a collection of illustrative scenes than a complete tale, it lacks the attention to detail that would have been needed to make it ring true.

I ended up feeling really annoyed that this was relegated to a TV series of eight half-hour episode. The performances deserved far better than this. I honestly feel that if it had been made into the feature film it so richly deserved, Oscar nominations would surely have been beckoning. Lisa McGrillis was absolutely incredible.

My only gripe was that episode 7 was unnecessary and completely broke the spell. There was no need for it at all and it seemed merely like a box-ticking exercise, forced upon the writer by a mis-guided producer.

If you've ever watched Dead Man's Shoes, this was almost like an alternative take on the story, although pulled off with far more aplomb. For a while, I even thought that the boy's father was being played by Paddy Considine, nut a few years down the line.

Perhaps it's too late now, but I really wish somebody would re-shoot this with the same cast and treat it with the respect it deserves. If they did, I feel sure it would be regarded as a major British film and pick up a bucket load of awards.

Fiction is fiction and it would be too easy to pick holes in the believability or logic of this scenario - so let's not bother. But as a study of alienation within and outside of family structures this series finds its mark. Are there monsters? Yes, of course there are. Can we always recognise them? No. Should we fear them? Well, ideally we should not be living in fear, and if we have fears we should be able to talk about them, and there is the point, amply expressed in the family scenes and in the role of Danny's cousin, Aaron.

In the role of Danny, Lewis Gribben is astonishing. As he explores his new world, his fascination, confusion, horror and joy are palpable, and the scene in which he falls in love for the first time broke me - like 'Heartstopper' but for grown-ups.

My only criticisms are of the 'Night of the Hunter' sequence which forms a somewhat cliched climax, and the final resolution which seemed dubious. After all, when you've escaped one prison, and you've started to discover yourself, surely the last thing you need is another incarceration. But maybe I'm just cynical about families.

When Danny's mother dies, his father Steve decides to hide him away from a world of monsters and evil, when Steve dies, Danny is forced to confront the world.

I thoroughly enjoyed this from start to finish, a thought provoking, captivating, fascinating watch, it's a rollercoaster ride, Danny's journey is amusing and heart breaking at the same time. It's almost as if Danny has arrived on Earth from another planet.

It is never dull or flat, there isn't a single lull in quality, it's well paced, and very well made.

Lewis Gribben and Samuel Bottomley are both superb in their respective roles, genuinely acting that will have you captivated, it's the relationship between these two characters that's the most interesting element.

A great watch, 9/10.

This is a highly stylised and unusual drama from the makers of C4's 'The End of the ****ing World' which it resembles in tone. If you enjoyed that series as I did then 'Somewhere Boy' is probably going to be for you or vice-versa.

The series follows a teenage boy who has never been out of his house as he learns to become part of a society he's never known and is forced to reappraise his upbringing by his Father and what he taught him.

With each episode about thirty minutes or less it feels pacey and it intrigued me. Production values were good generally and it was well cast, the lead Lewis Gribben was just perfect in the role.

If you're looking for something a bit different give it a whirl, writer Pete Jackson has created a dark and interesting world to explore. Lovely period music too, which reminded me of writer Dennis Potter's works, like 'The Singing Detective'.