Home Before Dark: What the Must Watch Reviewers think

Tuesday 7 April 2020, 15:22

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

This week, Hayley Campbell and Scott Bryan share their thoughts on Home Before Dark, the new drama based on a true story, about a nine-year-old child who becomes a journalist.

It's available now from Apple TV.

Have you watched it? What did you think? Leave your comments below...

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(Photo: Apple TV)

Scott says: "It has originality that I don't think a lot of teen dramas have"

“This drama is basically a murder mystery aimed at teenagers. [The nine-year-old girl’s] family has moved from New York City to this small little creepy suburban area and she starts to write about what she sees. She stubbles upon this murder case that she then tries to get into. I was thinking to myself, 'this is a nice alternative drama than is normally aimed at teenagers'.

"Then I found out that it’s partially based on a true story and I was quite thrown - essentially it’s based on the life of Hilde Lysiak who wrote and self-published her own paper in Pennsylvania and then wrote up a story about a murder that happened in the local area and beat a load of seasoned journalists to it. When I found out that fact I was like, my word, this slightly out there drama is actually less out there than I had first imagined.

"I like the idea of the thriller, I like that it was an original story, I like the fact that it wasn’t set in a normal American high school following different groups of people like you’ve seen on hundreds of different shows. I think credit where it’s due, this is originality that I don’t think a lot of teen dramas have. The problem is, it’s clichéd.

"I’m going to say it’s not a Must Watch but if you are a kid who is interested in journalism, I would say maybe give it a go."

(Photo: Apple TV)

Hayley says: "It's like they're trying to appeal to everybody and end up appealing to nobody"

"I have rarely been so repelled by a show before the opening credits. It has so many clichés in its script that you could have a drinking game over it. It’s really badly written. I will say that Brooklynn Prince, who is the main child actor, is brilliant. She was in a movie a called The Florida Project a few years back and I’m glad to see her turning up in stuff again because she is an amazing actor. If there is any good to be said about this show, it's solely on her.

"The trouble I have with this show is that it struggles to figure out who it’s for. It’s kid-friendly but it’s also got this dark adult mystery hanging around the fringes. It’s like they’re trying to appeal to everybody and in their attempt they’re kind of appealing to nobody because the two kinds of shows they are making don’t mix as one. It feels insulting to your intelligence as an adult, and I’m not sure kids would like it either because it feels patronising. It exists in a weird limbo.

"Shows that are definitely for kids can include jokes for adults because the kids won’t get it. But when you narrow the bandwidth to this in-between place, it feels like it’s lacking on both sides. If you’re doing a story about a nine-year-old, who is intelligent enough to love the film All the President’s Men, enough to watch it 36 times, don’t make such a patronising show pitched at the same age group.

"I was a little kid who wanted to be a journalist. I am one now. Was it pitched at a younger me? I would have hated it. I don’t know who this is for."