Must Watch reviews Somewhere Boy

Thursday 20 October 2022, 7:13

Every week, the Must Watch podcasters review the biggest TV and streaming shows.

This week, Hayley Campbell and Scott Bryan review Somewhere Boy.

Channel 4 introduces Danny, an 18-year-old boy whose been locked away all his adult life by his father, until one day he decides to venture outside where his world suddenly comes crashing down on him.

Hayley says "It's really unusual, really strange and definitely worth a watch"

I think this is brilliantly done. And I think what makes this so good is that the line between abuse and love is so blurred. It makes it far more complicated. He was locked up for 18 years, but he had something not everybody gets: he had a father who was completely devoted to him, always available, they watched old films, they listened to old music and they had a nice time. Whereas in the real world, other boys might rarely see their dads or if they do, they may be emotionally unavailable to them.

In this show there's an obvious comparison in another teenager, whose dad won’t even phone him. The line between good and bad is blurry. The real world that he's suddenly thrown into isn’t fundamentally good either. I think one of the questions we're supposed to think about is whether it's better or worse.

I also love the fact that the episodes are short – but they vary from length in 19 to 25 mins so it feels far less of a TV show and more of a strange art piece you find by accident.

Also the cinematography is great. The scenes where he’s inside his dad's house feel like they’re genuinely from another time and place – they’re shot in a way that's warmer and grainier, whereas outside the house looks like a normal TV show: it's more blue and grey. It’s deliberately quite jarring when they step out the front door.

Somewhere Boy is really unusual, really strange and definitely worth a watch.

Scott says "I genuinely think that this will be one of the series of the year"

You know a show is special when you’re so keen to watch the next episode. I watched all of this in one go... all eight parts. I just could not get enough of it.

It’s one of those shows that just knocks your socks off and really makes you think. The whole premise of the show – a man told from a very young age that the outside world is full of monsters so he's made to stay inside by his dad. It’s a bit like the Truman Show – because he’s been warned about how terrible the outside world is, so he stays where he is and he stays terrified.

A few things then happen, and he tries to re-join the usual world and there’s some things he can’t really adjust to. He goes to the pub and doesn’t understand the concept of the pub when he orders a martini. But he’s also got this outside view because he hasn’t grown up in a life of the traditional usual social cues. And he’s able to have observations about society that others may not have thought about.

The real heart of this drama, as well as being brilliantly well acted and written, explores the complexity of still loving somebody – be that a caregiver, parent who has also hurt you a great deal – and it looks at that complexity of still having an emotional attachment to someone else. The way it manages to look at this issue which affects many people in a heartfelt non-dimensional way is fantastic.

I genuinely think that this will be one of the series of the year. I absolutely loved it.