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The Castaways brings us Sheridan Smith (The Railway Children Return) and Celine Buckens (Showtrial) as sisters Lori, and Erin Holme, both intending on having a nice holiday away on a fancy beach in Fiji, although as Danny Wilson sang in 1989, nothing ever goes to plan.
As we begin, for Lori, she’s on a plane which takes off, but disappears with no trace since it had no blackbox (D’oh! – but seriously, is that really possible in the modern age?) However, parts of it are only just starting to appear, and at this point, the lawyers are only just starting to make final offers of compensation, for which Erin is non-plussed and determined to get to the bottom of it all, even if it means going over there to get some answers.
Before heaading out, though, her trail of clues begins at home, using several computers and screens simultaneously, because today’s yoof don’t have more than one tab on their browser…
The drama keeps jumping back and forth in time – just labelling it “NOW” and “THEN”, whether it’s centered on Lori or Erin, or even scenes with them together during happier times, albeit occasionally with some consternation between the two, which will be revealed as it goes on.
For Lori, following a nicely terrifying (in TV drama terms) plane crash, it turns a bit into Lost – well, without giving spoilers, it’s obvious some people must have to survive, because it’s called… The Castaways.
That said, this does feel a bit cliched at times. For example, some people are dead, yet one particular man from the plane – who’s a complete aerosol – asks Lori, “Do I scare you? I should…”
Well, cheers, mate! We’ve just survived a plane crash, and NOW you’re bringing us MORE bad news?!
After two episodes so far, it’s pretty entertaining, and I also like how Sheridan proves herself very resourceful, but then in the past, she’s mastered all kinds of professions from teaching while getting up to shenanigans, to cleaning while committing inside trading fraud.
Thanks to our friends at Paramount+ for the screener prior to release.
The Castaways is not available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD, but is on Paramount+ from December 26th.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 50-60 minutes per episode (8 episodes)
Release date: December 26th 2023
Studio: Paramount+
Format: 2.00:1
Series Directors: Andy Tohill, Ryan Tohill
Producer: Myf Hopkins
Screenplay: Polly Buckle, Lucy Clarke, Ben Harris, Jesse O’Mahoney
Novel: Lucy Clarke
Cast:
Lori Holme: Sheridan Smith
Erin Holme: Celine Buckens
Mike Brasse: Brendan Cowell
Daniel Elridge: Dominic Tighe
Felix Vatubua: Lasarus Ratuere
Amber: Charlotte Vega
Camilla Eldridge: Alex Childs
Pete: Sam Hoare
Zoe: Melissa James
Mrs. Gordon: Gloria Garcia
Passenger: Petros Triandafyllopoulos
Vlogger: Dalumuzi Moyo
Young Lori: Katie Shelley
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.