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Riptide isn’t just an ’80s Robert Palmer album, but a new 4-part Channel 5 drama over just as many nights.
This nightly opus begins with Shane Ramsay from Neighours, sorry, Sean (Peter O’Brien), still surfing the waves. You wouldn’t believe he’s 89 years old, would you?
Now with a younger wife, Alison (Jo Joyner – Stay Close), she’s effectively stepmother to his ungrateful daughter who’s sick of her new school and wants to go back to her old one, which (a) isn’t possible, and (b) they’ve spent a ton of money on uniform for the new one, so… see (a).
And since she’s the new woman in Sean’s life, this drama barely reached the first ad break before she was threatened with blackmail over what will presumably turn out to be nothing.
Along the way, his sons think Alison’s a gold-digger, and his daughter’s got a not-particularly-risque picture online, courtesy of some horrible boys at her school. And Shane Ramsay’s right at home, since this plotless escapade also plays out like a soap opera, so when someone says “Sean doesn’t need to know”, it’s at that moment when he walks in and says, “Know what?” Good Lord!
But, before too long – and this is in the first episode and the billing, hubby is missing at sea and presumed drowned! EGADS!
Throw in some usual clichés, such as Alison snapping at the cops, telling them to do their job, plus everyone moping around, some of them sneering at her, all “It’s your fault he’s dead!”
By the end of Riptide‘s first episode, which is all I’ve seen at the point of posting this, I’d bet my house on him having faked his death and living it up elsewhere, probably on Ramsay Street, having made a fortune in cryptocurrency…
Further episodes will be updated after they air on Channel 5.
UPDATE Episode 2:
After this, I tried to watch episode 3, but got tired of it and bailed.
Thanks to our friends at Channel 5 for the screener for episode 1 prior to broadcast.
Riptide continues tomorrow on Channel 5, and every night until Friday, at 9pm. It’s not yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD, but when it is, it will be listed on the New DVD, Blu-ray, 3D and 4K releases UK page.
If you miss it, you can watch the each episode on My5 after transmission.
Director: Scott Major
Producer: Natalie Mandel
Writer: Margaret Wilsoin
Music: Cornel Wilczek, Pascal Babare, Thomas Rouch
Cast:
Alison Weston: Jo Joyner
Sean Weston: Peter O’Brien
Dan Burrell: David Berry
Hannah Lane: Asher Yasbincek
Michael Weston: Ciaran Griffiths
Ethan Weston: Ben Turland
Rachel Weston: Ally Fowler
Jesse Patel: Benjamin Samaddar
Logan Williams: Yazeed Daher
Sgt Bhomik: Sonya Suares
Constable Harry Lang: Toby Derrick
Finn Barker: Max Brown
Detective Angelo Da Silva: Adam McConvell
Bryn: Alasdair Bliss
Philip Eldersly: Patrick Williams
Naomi Burrell: Emma Choy
Female Surfer: Ella Bourne
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.