This British series is a slow burn that packs a powerful emotional punch, writes Catherine McGregor.
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The lowdown
When his mentally disturbed father Steve dies, 18-year-old Danny is freed from the remote house where he’d been held in isolation and is forced to face life in the outside world. Steve had prevented Danny from leaving the house by convincing him it was surrounded by “monsters” that only Steve could defeat, going so far as regularly smearing himself with animal blood to support the charade. That his beloved father was a liar is just one of the hard truths Danny must confront when he’s propelled out beyond their four walls.
Written and directed by first-time TV showrunner Pete Jackson, Somewhere Boy was shown on consecutive nights on the UK’s Channel 4 a few weeks back and is now streaming in full on TVNZ+.
What’s good
What a strange and lovely series Somewhere Boy is. Despite its dark subject matter and emotional intensity – especially in the first and last episodes, which centre on the suicide of Danny’s father Steve (Rory Keenan) – Somewhere Boy counts among the most uplifting viewing experiences of the year.
It’s a slow build, to be sure. When Steve’s big-hearted sister Sue (Lisa McGrillis) brings Danny (a brilliant Lewis Gribben) back home to join a family he’s never met, things get off to a rocky start. After 18 years of isolation, Danny is painfully awkward – hunched over, monosyllabic, lacking basic social skills and with a stubborn streak a mile wide – and the chances of him integrating into this new family of strangers seem slim.
Things are trickiest with Sue’s teenage son Aaron. He’s actively resentful of this odd kid who doesn’t know what porn is and can’t grasp the appeal of social media, or as Danny puts it, “sitting here looking at photos of cunts”. Worse, Danny’s arrival is one more hurdle in his struggle to be popular, or at least not a social outcast. Mooching around the house, icing out his mother and bragging about the masses of sex he isn’t actually having, Aaron has all the makings of a classic horrible teenager. And yet, for my money, he’s the show’s most affecting character, played with remarkable sensitivity by young actor Samuel Bottomley. The burgeoning friendship between the cousins – two lonely, uncool teenagers, both desperate for human connection – is one of the show’s major emotional throughlines.
The other is the far more complicated relationship between Danny and his father, a story told in flashbacks scattered through the eight episodes. Steve’s psychological manipulation of Danny is monstrous, but his love for his young son is genuine and powerful – overwhelmingly so. Steve is clearly mentally unwell (there’s a strong suggestion he has manic depression) but he’s not mad, and he’s not a tyrant. In fact, in many ways he’s an ideal dad: hands on, supportive, creative, affectionate. He imprisons his son not to terrorise him, but to protect him; in his warped way, it’s the ultimate act of love.
What’s not so good
It’s a small nitpick, but I spent much of the eight-episode run wondering how Danny and his father had so easily avoided welfare services, or any expectation that the child attend school.
The verdict
Somewhere Boy takes a familiar idea (the movie Room covered similar ground) and fashions from it something wholly original. Episodes of Somewhere Boy are short; watch at least a couple and there’s a good chance you’ll be hooked on this quietly wonderful series.
Somewhere Boy is streaming on TVNZ+ now.