Somewhere Boy: a gripping ‘fairy tale for our times’
Stick with Channel 4’s ‘ambitious’ new drama – it’s worth it

My “strong advice”, if you’re watching Somewhere Boy, is to “give it a chance”, said Rachel Cooke in The New Statesman. To get hooked on Channel 4’s “ambitious” new drama, you’ll need a couple of episodes at least; but it’s worth sticking with.
Lewis Gribben stars as Danny, an 18-year-old who has been kept prisoner in a remote house in the English countryside by his widowed father Steve (Rory Keenan), “his only entertainments indoor golf and old black and white movies”.
His father has told him that the world outside is teeming with monsters; but when Steve dies, Danny is taken in by his aunt, and has to start adapting to the world. It’s “a fairy tale for our times”, part Brothers Grimm and part Dennis Potter. The script is “subtle and clever”, the acting excellent.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
This “quietly brilliant” show restored my faith in our ability to make decent television, said Camilla Long in The Sunday Times. It’s not perfect: “there are a number of improbabilities, and some viewers may find it slow”. But it takes a fascinating story and spins “a web of modest magic”. It’s “perfectly cast”, too: for once, it hasn’t been built around “some sensational big name”, and the actors just “disappear into the roles”.
With episodes running to just 20 minutes, and a “jaunty, almost retro style”, Somewhere Boy is a refreshingly un-traumatic take on the “hackneyed domestic confinement genre”, as seen in Room or Stockholm, Pennsylvania, said Nick Hilton in The Independent. It is, in fact, “a charming paean to the indomitable human spirit”.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Art review: Lorna Simpson: Source Notes
Feature Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, through Nov. 2
-
Jessica Francis Kane's 6 favorite books that prove less is more
Feature The author recommends works by Penelope Fitzgerald, Marie-Helene Bertino, and more
-
Book reviews: 'Baldwin: A Love Story' and 'The Fort Bragg Cartel: Drug Trafficking and Murder in the Special Forces'
Feature A loving James Baldwin biography and the drug crimes of two special ops veterans
-
Rigatoni with 'no-vodka sauce' recipe
The Week Recommends Comfort food meets a clever alcohol-free twist on a classic
-
6 blooming homes for gardeners
Feature Featuring a greenhouse in Illinois and 13 raised garden beds in New Mexico
-
The Roses: Olivia Colman and Benedict Cumberbatch star in black comedy reboot
The Week Recommends 'Acidly enjoyable' remake of the 1980s classic features a warring couple and toxic love
-
Film reviews: The Roses, Splitsville, and Twinless
Feature A happy union devolves into domestic warfare, a couple's open marriage reaps chaos, and an unlikely friendship takes surprising turns
-
Music reviews: Laufey, Deftones, and Earl Sweatshirt
Feature "A Matter of Time," "Private Music," and "Live Laugh Love"