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The Nest is a new drama staring Line of Duty‘s Martin Compston, using his original Scottish accent this time.
Emily (Sophie Rundle) runs into a young woman called Kaya (Mirren Mack), while out driving, as she didn’t see her, but in a bid to get out and help her, Kaya is too busy pointing a broken bottle at a man in the street. It’s unclear what their connection is at that point, but no sooner does Emily spirit her away than she wants out of the car after sneakily taking Emily’s business card.
Dan’s sister is carrying the surrogate child for his and Emily’s expected baby, but circumstances have led to them requiring an additional surrogate. Is the answer to go abroad, or is there someone closer to home who can help?
Meanwhile, Kyra’s in trouble with social services as she’s not playing by their rules.
There’s a lot of paths crossing by chance, and it’s clear what the direction is that this is taking, but there’s always a chance that it could spin-off in a Hand That Rocks The Cradle direction, but time will tell.
And to say Emily and Dan live in a palatial home by the water is an understatement, and I can’t begin to imagine how much that place would cost.
Overall, this first episode is reasonably engaging, but I’ll need to watch more to see how it all plays out.
Plus, there’s five episodes to the series, and while I forget who said this, I have heard that if a drama has an odd number of episodes, then you know it’s being written with a specific target in mind; whereas if there’s an even number like six, eight or ten, then they’re just rounding things up to make up the numbers.
Oh, and early on, you’ll spot a familiar face if you watch a lot of films on Channel 4. Bailey Patrick plays a paramedic, and he’s in the current set of Direct Line promos as they go to and from an ad break.
UPDATE: Episode 2 was fairly hit and miss. We had a revelation which I’ll hide behind a spoiler header below, but the only things I can remember are that, as with Kyra, if you go into a nightclub and wear your coat, you won’t feel the benefit when you go outside! And in any event, given the amount she spent on booze, surely she could afford the quid or two for the cloakroom?
Meanwhile, reporter Eleanor’s (Katie Leung) bag went missing in Kyra’s bar, so no doubt, Kyra will be tied into that in some way.
But are there too many Celtic references? These tweets came in together from separate people!
https://twitter.com/LauraCampbell97/status/1244374374255415301
https://twitter.com/nickycoull/status/1244374499799240706
UPDATE Episode 3: and Dan had the Worst. Shave. Ever. as he attacked his face with an electric shaver, yet STILL had a full beard!!!
Later, the nurse is quite happy to break the rules so as to allow Dan and Emily to see Kaya’s baby??! What a load of rot! And then we had journalist Eleanor, who always looks like she got dressed in the dark. This was just very dull indeed. Only two more episodes to go…
UPDATE Episode 4: Another tedious 60 minutes of Rich People Problems. Oh well, only one episode to go, and that’s tomorrow.
UPDATE Episode 5: More tedious drama and a twist between Shirley Henderson and Kaya which I didn’t give a damn about. However, I’d watched too many episodes before I realised how dull this “rich people problems” drama was, and thought I’d stick it out to see what the outcome was. I wish I hadn’t bothered with any of it.
The Nest is available to pre-order on DVD, ahead of its release on May 25th.
It’s also available to watch on the BBC iPlayer.
Episode 1 Score: 6.5/10
Episode 2 Score: 4/10
Episode 3 Score: 2/10
Episode 4 Score: 1/10
Episode 5 Score: 1/10
Series Directors: Andy De Emmony, Simen Alsvik
Producer: Clare Kerr
Writer/Creator: Nicole Taylor
Cast:
Emily; Sophie Rundle
Dan: Martin Compston
Kaya: Mirren Mack
James: James Harkness
Janis: Liz Ewing
Jack: Samuel Small
Sammy: Leo Tetteh
Gregor: John McQuiston
Souter: David Hayman
Irvine: Steven McNicoll
Publcist: Scarlett Hack
Eleanor: Katie Leung
Zoe: Christine Bottomley
Hilary: Fiona Bell
A&E Nurse: James Rottger
Callum: Bailey Patrick
Donna Shinwell: Nicole Cooper
Doddy: Paul Brannigan
Fertility Councillor: Helen Katamba
Ethics Committee Nurse: Eric Robertson
Ethics Committee Doctor: Deborah Arnott
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.