Must Watch reviews: The Dyers' Caravan Park, Dirty Business and The Walsh Sisters

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

This week, Scott Bryan and Hayley Campbell review The Dyers’ Caravan Park, Dirty Business and The Walsh Sisters.

What do the Must Watch reviewers make of them?

Both Scott and Hayley thought this wasn’t a must watch.

The Dyers’ Caravan Park is a Sky Original series that follows father and daughter Danny and Dani Dyer as they invest in a caravan park in a bid to revive the industry once again.

Hayley says “I think this is exactly what you think it's going to be. It's fun. It’s in no way essential viewing.”
Hayley continues “Jeremy Clarkson did it with a farm, Vinnie Jones also did it with a farm. It’s one of those shows — but it's hosted by both Dyers. I think if you don't like that show or Dyers in general you won't like it.”

Hayley adds “That's basically my review. But it is very Danny Dyer: The caravan park is in Priory Hill on the Isle of Sheppey which is apparently known as Kent's Treasure Island and has three prisons. He's trying to make this a holiday destination and he's dealing with every problem that comes up in a very Danny Dyer way.”

Hayley says “Everyone's called ‘geez’ or ‘treacle’ or ‘my son’ and he's dialed himself up for the cameras because he knows what to do. He’s got his ‘tache on because he was filming Rivals while this happened.”

Hayley continues “I like how you get lots of local characters in it and they’re a kind you don't usually see on TV. You also really feel for the staff who have to carry out all the new plans and have legit reasons for why things are the way they are. So they know these new plans will create nightmares for them.”

Hayley concludes “It's not essential. It's fluff. I don't think it's trying to be a documentary. It knows exactly what it is. I think if you just want to hang out with both Danny/Dani Dyers then give it a go.”

Scott opens by saying “this isn’t a must watch” and that he “found it to be very confusing.”

He goes on to note “I missed the opportunity just in the name alone, because this is called The Dyers' Caravan Park, and it's where they try to get more people to go and stay in a caravan site. I was thinking they should have called this Live and Let Dyer.”

Scott reflects further by saying this was “a bit of a weird one, because I think their hearts are in the right place. He was a big fan of caravan parks, stayed in them in the 80s and 90s, he loves the sense of community that they have.”

He continues “they are dying out though and he is trying, he's risking his reputation even he says financially, to help bring them back. They managed to take on this caravan site. There's 38 empty pitches losing about 150k in revenue to begin with.”

Scott wraps his thoughts up with “It falls into the trap of is it a documentary? Or is it just…for entertainment's sake? It sort of feels like a blurring between the two and I am not sure it works.”

The Dyers’ Caravan Park aired on Sky One and is available to stream on Now.

Hayley thought this was a must watch, while Scott thought this was not a must watch.

Dirty Business is a three part docudrama based on true events that looks at the ten year long investigation into contaminated and polluted UK waters.

Hayley opens with “this is a must watch" and “I thought this was excellently done.”

She follows up “You've got two brilliant actors up front, the kind who can make anything dry come alive, which is helpful when you've got so much information to get through.”

Hayley goes on to explain “One is a retired detective and the other is a scientist going through documents to try and find this pattern.”

She elaborates further “You're never left questioning what the stakes are of the thing they're trying to find. It's not just about hurting the environment or killing the fish or changing the colour of the water in the landscape: the stakes are life and death, and that is never far from the main plot.”

Hayley reflects “I really liked how domestic it was. A lot of the footage in the show is pulled from social media and filmed by people who've just seen this happening on their local beaches or rivers, so it doesn't feel like something that is out of reach or is happening to people who aren't you.“

She wraps up “It's insane to me that there are several apps you can download to find out if untreated sewage has been dumped into the sea where you want to swim on whatever particular day you're checking. I think that the fact that we live in a world where that is required is kind of unbelievable, especially when we live on an island.“

Scott says “I think it's a good watch, but not a must watch.”

Scott continues “You rightly do feel incredibly angry in this film. I found this three-parter to be incredibly detailed in a good way. And the fact that there is a lot of information presented to you that hasn't been, and I didn't mean to use the pun, watered down, is actually, I think, one of the drama's strengths.”

Scott adds “I think the reason why it's not a must watch for me is purely just down to a few of the creative choices in the series that you will either love or loathe. There are a lot of standalone scenes where characters break the fourth wall or read aloud emails. I just found those choices a little bit jarring.”

Scott concludes “I think it's got a real message and intention behind it. I think it continues an important trend in public service broadcasting in recent years, highlighting an injustice that makes you go ‘how has this happened, who is responsible and what can be changed.”

Dirty Business is available to stream of Channel 4 on Demand now.

The Walsh sisters is a comedy drama, inspired by Marian Keyes’s book novels, that follows the journey of five Irish sisters as they navigate their way through life.

Both Scott and Hayley agreed that this was not a must watch.

Hayley says“It's not a must watch for me.”

She goes on to argue that, “I've never read the books so I came at this one completely cold and I was so bored. So bored of this.”

Hayley elaborates “It's human and real but I just found it deeply boring. It is a show about basically being alive and having feelings but no real plot aside from being basically alive. Which I'm sure some people will completely love so I think some listeners should take my review as a positive one. It's mostly well acted, and it's about a lot of things we all live through. There is addiction, there is infertility, divorce. But all the characters were annoying and I didn't really care about any of them and even five of them isn't enough to sustain my interest.”

She concludes “This is a lot of novels compressed into TV so I imagine some of it has been lost in translation but it's entirely possible I wouldn't like the novels either. I think sometimes you know when a TV show is objectively fine and it's just not for you. And this is an example of that. It’s not for me, but it will probably be for lots of people.”

Scott says,“I find that it manages to capture how I think the relationship between sisters and how they talk and communicate incredibly well. It's very nuanced. I mean, it's like you care for each other so much, but you use so many different ways of talk than actually expressing that care, if that makes sense.”

Scott goes on to say, “I think the challenge for me was that it just felt like there wasn't as much humour as I expected it to have. I also found it just that little bit too cozy. The plot just moved too slow for me.”

All episodes of The Walsh Sisters are available to stream on BBC iPlayer now.

Listen to the full reviews of all three programmes on BBC Sounds.

Why not contact Scott and Hayley with the shows you’ve been loving, loathing or both on mustwatch@bbc.co.uk.

We used AI to transcribe and summarise our Must Watch feature.

This article was then written and reviewed by a BBC journalist.

More on how the BBC uses AI.