The Last Bus – The DVDfever Review – Netflix – Robert Sheehan

The Last Bus begins at Monkhouse Industries, where some clumsy lab workers drop a bizarre orb, which subsequently zooms off by itself…

Then over to Braelawn Academy where teacher Mr Short (Tom Basden) is playing Top Trumps with student Nas (Moosa Mostafa), while they await the bus to take them to the aforementioned facility for a school trip. Cue scenes of other kids being brought into the mix, such as one girl on a driving test, spinning around like me when I’m playing WRC10, one lad being dropped off by his mum, Julie, who’s seen leering at her son’s school friends, plus other funny comic touches, such as Chelsea (Marlie Morrelle), a girl who keeps a written schedule of her entire day, such as when going to school: 7:37 Leave home, 7:59 Say bye to mum, etc., ticking them off as she goes. She’s the teacher’s pet of the class, basically.

After boarding a rickety bus to take everyone to their destination, along with some quite amusing banter and with a cast that works well together, enter Dalton Monkhouse (Robert Sheehan – Bad Samaritan) – complete with dodgy goatee – who states he wants to improve the environment, with the Monkhouse Dynamics Genie Orb, i.e. the small oval object which escaped, earlier, and there’s loads of them.

In his short speech, he says he’s sending everyone to a ‘better place’… before his drones start wiping everyone out one by one, with everyone fleeing in horror.

So, the premise in the opening episode has rather unfortunate timing, given Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The second episode tries to throw in a bit of daft humour, but on the whole, a drama about the annihilation of adults and children – as part of a children’s drama with jovial atmosphere early on – doesn’t quite sit right for me.

I’ve seen two episodes out of the ten, and for me, that’s more than enough. I can guess how it’s going to turn out overall, but it’s just a rather bizarre premise for a children’s drama.

Thanks to our friends at Netflix for the screener prior to release.

The Last Bus is not available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD, but is on Netflix from Friday April 1st.

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The Last Bus – Official Trailer – Netflix

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Detailed specs:

Cert:
Running time: 30-35 per episode (10 episodes)
Release date: March 28th 2022
Studio: Netflix
Format: 2.00:1

Series Directors: Lawrence Gough, Steve Hughes, Nour Wazzi, Drew Casson
Producer: Andy Mosse
Writer/Creator: Paul Neafcy
Music: Nathan Micay

Cast:
Nas: Moosa Mostafa
Misha: Lauryn Ajufo
Sophie: Phoebe De Silva
Tom: Daniel Frogson
Bethan: Carys John
Josh: Nathanael Saleh
Chelsea: Marlie Morrelle
Mr Short: Tom Basden
Danny: Curtis Kantsa
Dalton Monkhouse: Robert Sheehan
Tech 1: Jamie Christofersen
Tech 2: Eric Maclennan
Jeff: John Draycott
Julie: Clara Janson
Skelly: Badget Skelton
Bethan’s Dad: Delroy Atkinson
Chelsea’s Mum: Kelly Hotten
Frank: Laura Crowhurst
PR Woman: Emma Bown

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