Wild is the first in a new series of Play For Today on Channel 5 – which first came back to the small screen last year, and is directed by someone called Brick.
I want to hear a pause after that, and then the word, “Houuuuuuuuse!”, and only from The Commodores.
But back to this, and the three lads… well, now, men in their 40s, are out for their annual wild weekend camping trip, with Dev (Amit Shah – The Revenge Club) not allowed to bring his girlfriend because “three’s company and four’s a crowd”.
They’re also not allowed to take their phones with them, leading to Lou (Daniel Mays – Believe Me) keeping them all in his car. Well, NO-ONE would ever touch MY phone. Still, can man survive by A-Z Map alone? And survive, despite forgetting the net to protect against bugs?
And deal with Alistair’s (Joel Fry – Doctor Who: Joy To The World) asthma? And can they really capture a rabbit and kill it?
Well, some, none or all of these questions will be answered in the intervening 45 minutes plus ads.
Overall, though, Wild has a good cast, but sadly, rather a tame script. The part where they’re going round in circles was like something from Tarkovsky’s Stalker. Okay, that was over 40 years ago, but either way, tensions fray and unfortunately, there’s not really a great deal to shout about in this one-off.
Plus, it looks like they must’ve filmed this in summer, because unfortunately for them, it looks like they’ve taken Stockport’s usual weather with them, as it’s chucking it down.
Wild is now online, and all Play For Today episodes can be watched online at My5.
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.
Director: Brick (aka Adam J Harris)
Producer: Meeshan Saxena
Writer: Lewis Wren
Score: Adam Pelosi
Cast:
Lou: Daniel Mays
Alistair: Joel Fry
Dev: Amit Shah
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.