TV review: You should definitely watch Somewhere Boy — but don't binge watch it
Somewhere Boy: Steve (Rory Keenan) and young Danny (Samuel McKenna)
You should definitely watch (Channel 4 Sunday and ALL 4 app). Just don’t binge it all in one go.
I just finished the first four episodes and there is only so much heartbreak you can take.
It tells the story of Steve and his son Danny, and what happens to them when Steve’s wife dies in a hit-and-run, when Danny was very young. Basically, Steve locks his son up in a house in the woods and tells him he has to stay there, because it's the only place he's safe from the monsters outside.
It’s not as awful as it sounds. Steve appears as a loving father, playing with Danny and trying to fill the role of parent and friend. Danny loves his Dad, even when Steve goes out with a shotgun to ‘get food’, leaving his son at home to watch old black and white movies or listen to old gramophone records.
Then one day, Steve dies (no spoilers) and Danny is all alone. Enter his Aunt Sue, who has to break into the house with the police and take a late teens Danny out into the world for the first time.
The acting makes it believable. Lewis Gribben as grown-up Danny is full of wonder and terror at the outside world. The actors who play a younger Danny in flashback are heartbreakingly vulnerable, loving and loyal. Rory Keenan is gripping as Steve, fighting off the monsters in his head.
But it’s Sue’s son and Danny’s cousin, Aaron, who really catches the eye. At first, he is classic late teen grumpy guy, suddenly sharing a room with a stranger with a strange past. Slowly it emerges he is also lost, his father out of his life, and struggling to make friends.
Danny and Aaron bond, thanks in part to Danny’s total lack of filter. It’s an entertaining bro-com, like when Danny orders a martini in a rough boozer because he was still living in a world of black-and-white movies.
But every now and again, we’re dragged via flash-back to life in the boarded-up house. Danny is injured in a fall and begs his Dad not to bring him to hospital in case the monsters are waiting outside. Danny gets older over time and questions Steve, but never loses faith in his Dad. We come up to date and Aaron tells him there are no monsters, but Danny isn’t having it because his Dad would never lie to him.
is laced with sadness and guilt. But it’s mainly about love. Misguided love from Steve, who ruins his son’s early life. Raw love from Sue for her nephew, run through with guilt that she didn’t help him out earlier.
And Danny’s love for his mother, who he can’t remember. The story takes off when he tries to find the man responsible for his mother’s death. But the story isn’t really the point. It’s the emotional intensity of that will keep you coming back for more. Just don’t watch it all in one go.
