OUT OF THE WOODS
An 18-year-old emerges from captivity to confront his monsters.
The real world feels like an unappealing place at the moment, so it’s understandable that a parent might want to protect their children from the worst of it. For Danny (Lewis Gribben), the focus of new Channel 4 eight-parter Somewhere Boy, these sentiments are taken way too far.
Raised in a secluded woodland cottage, Danny is convinced the outside world is stalked by monsters and fed a diet of Benny Goodman records, 1940s melodramas and Ealing comedies by his grief-stricken father (Rory Keenan) following the death of his mother. Ill-equipped when his dad’s sudden demise leaves him in the care of an aunt (Lisa McGrillis) and cousin (Samuel Bottomley) he never knew existed on the outside, Danny discovers a world of wonder, horror, love and, yes, even a few monsters – particularly the one he believes killed his mother.
“Normally, it’s a regular person in an extraordinary world,” enthuses Gribben. “Somewhere Boy flips it around and I found that fascinating.”
Series creator Pete Jackson explains the genesis of the show. “Sitting and listening with my son, just as I had once
sat and listened with my dad, to the same old records on the same old record player, seeing my boy as happy and contented as I had once been, made me think of those little safe worlds parents create for their kids, and how hard it is when those worlds inevitably give way to harsh reality.”
Danny would be a challenging role for any young actor, but Gribben (favourite classic movie: Rebel Without A Cause) is superb – not least because he related so closely to the character. “I understood the outsider thing,” he says. “I don’t feel like I fit in, but I’m going to find a way by being who I am. Danny desperately wants friends but doesn’t know what’s cool and normal. He doesn’t know how to change because he’s just authentically himself.”
Jackson talked to social workers and psychologists, to people who left cults and those who helped to reintegrate them. “It was fascinating and incredibly useful, as Danny has grown up believing completely in a twisted version of the world outside, one that’s been created by a man he loves entirely and trusts implicitly, and so once out, he’ll try and shape the world to fit his dad’s vision, rather than accept that he was lied to.”
Although it was a gruelling shoot for Gribben, he has nothing but love for the show – and a touch of anxiety about it, too. “I don’t feel like we’ve seen anything like it in the last few years – I have no idea how people will react to it. For me, I want people to go, ‘Who the hell is that?’”
‘I don’t feel like we’ve seen anything like it in the last few years’ LEWIS GRIBBEN
SOMEWHERE BOY RELEASES ON CHANNEL 4 AND ALL 4 IN OCTOBER.