User reviews

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'.

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.

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.

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.

Some wonderful acting here, without a weak link, but let down by two big failings. First, it was totally incredible that an intelligent young man wouldn't have questioned this isolated upbringing. Apart from anything else, where were the house's electricity and TV transmissions coming from? And secondly, at over three hours it was far too long. A two-hour span, comprising four half hour episodes, would have made for a tighter, more coherent drama. I thought this was a great shame, because as a coming of age drama, focusing on the three young people brought together by these painful events of the past, it would have been excellent viewing. Loved the old songs, a technique borrowed from Dennis Potter but no worse for that.

Some parts are slow as other have said but it's an amazing show. What a story. The acting is really good. A sad but intriguing story of a Fathers madness and how that can affect the life of this around him. It's interesting and thoroughly entertaining. I doubt there will be another season as the show ended on a good note but I wouldn't be disappointed if there was a second season. I was desperately sorry for the son and his secluded life but in the end his coming out changed the lives of so many others in the show and all for the good. As I said before it's an amazing story and told with incredible poignancy.

Had this in my watch list but it sounded boring so I waited until last night to watch it because I was short on things as usual. I must say this would have worked better as a film not a serie( because of the indie vibe)! I feel they wasted too much time on flashbacks and nor enough on Danny. Instead of his aunt explaining everything or him going into a program for re- integration ( which he desperately needed ) to avoid becoming like his father! Weather hereditary or brought on by circumstance was never explaned. Idk. The whole thing made me mad that he had no support to re'enter into society and be checked for mental illness etc. I partially blame his aunt for hiding the truth and telling him right from wrong and monsters etc weren't real.! Hiding it from him was more harmful then helpful! I also wonder if the dad was like this prior to the events that conspired.

Somewhere Boy?

Where, exactly?

In a rambling, daft old tale, that's where.

With such a silly storyline that meanders so much it loses its way into a ditch, one cannot forgive the half baked script and sheer dullness of the entire proceedings. And yet professional (paid!) TV critics loved this. Intriguing... Don't forget, they were paid. By the show's production company, perhaps??

Yes, the plot is mildly intriguing if totally asinine. Yes, the acting is decent, but no better than your standard drama school student couldn't knock out after an afternoons rehearsal. This show is simply too dull overall to maintain a steady interest, particularly over 8 episodes. The writer should have taken the best parts of his script and combined them into 4 episodes and ramped up the tension in the areas where it was needed.

No spoilers for you because, really, whatever plotlines l give away really wouldn't spoil anything. Go outside and kick a football around; you'd enjoy it more, even if you don't like football.

The show was alright. It's kinda slow and needed more depth or action for sure. The actors aren't that good. The storyline, I wish they would tell a backstop a bit more instead of word by mouth of what happened. It just goes everywhere, meaning the show. It doesn't follow the story very well.

The show is good if you don't have anything else to watch ( which is what I did lol). So, it did it's job meaning it entertained me enough. It would have been better as a movie I think so it didn't drag out. I think that is why it seemed so slow. Next time, put more UUMPH, into it and it will better. Other that it was fine.