Customer Reviews

Wild at Heart: Series One

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Beautiful! Excellent! Arresting! It's like taking the "Swiss Family Robinson" and reinventing them in the African bush. 5-stars only because 6 isn't an option.

Second marriage of Vet. Danny Trevanion (Stephen Tomkinson) and Sarah (Amanda Holden) also unites their previous-marriage kids. One happy family? Not always. The Dr's girl, Rosie (Lucy-Jo Hudson), missing her deceased real mom, often conflicts with her step-mom. She blends better with Sarah's children brought into the family group, Evan (Luke Ward-Wilkinson) and Olivia (Rafaella Hutchinson). Sweet Olivia is reminiscent of Drew Barrymore's child role in "ET."

The family takes a holiday to South Africa with the purpose of returning a rescued pet vervet monkey, Valentine, to the wild. Danny is offered a veterinarian position on a dilapidated bush farm owned by Anders Du Plessis, Afrikaner (Deon Stewardson). Danny & Sarah make a decision. That's episode one, and it just gets better and better with each episode. Every episode is just shy of 50 minutes.

Throughout the DVD set, you will encounter wild animals and South African vistas that are enchanting. The story is relationship drama with plenty of action and suspense. The visual aspect of the setting is comparable to the best of African bush documentaries. What a fantastic combination, to say nothing of the background African music.
Disney could have done no better.

Episode 2: Wendy, a cheetah with a broken leg, is saved by Evan and then by Danny, followed by Danny saving Olivia's life. The 3 family girls meet Alex Tate (Gary Lawson), a neighbor with a game/resort farm which really does look like a Disneyland in Africa. And you'll meet Miranda, a baby lion.
#3: Sarah's ex-husband Simon (Vincent Regan) visits Africa demanding his children, Evan & Olivia. Ruby Robson (Stacey Roca), young lover causing the divorce, tags along, and all family members deal with past torn-family relationships and face decisions.
#4 Evan & Olivia run away, a semi-drugged lion is on the run, everyone is looking for someone, but who will find what, first? Rosie finds Themba (Siyabonga Shibe), finds him quite nice.
#5 The Trevanion females, elephants, naked massage, zebras, Tate, paying guests, and diesel fuel all become a part of the current problems.
#6 Poachers arrive with other unexplained animal death that threatens all life at Leopard's Den. Is it Anthrax? Malaria?
"No one who is loved, ever really dies."

This DVD set was largely selected by me because the cover photo looked like good family viewing. IT IS THAT! Highly recommended even though it has no subtitles or closed captioning. I rarely needs it. What it offers makes up for any shortcoming--WITH ONE EXCEPTION. This is the first of several years of "Wild at Heart" TV production. Please, please, Acorn Media, give us another Series.

Bonus stuff includes production notes and more fabulous photography in gallery format. The only thing better to do than buying this DVD set is to travel in person to South Africa.

Great family show. Beautiful photography and interesting stories. About an English vet and his family who move to Africa. Can watch again and again without getting tired of it. Good acting by all the cast. Like the music and the animals, of course. Feel-good show with lots of humor and issues. Quality production.

I found this series by accident, but I'm glad I did. This series is wonderful for families to watch. It stars Stephen Tompkinson, whom some might remember from the series "BallyKissangel". The animals and scenery are beautiful. The characters are believable and the acting superb. With all the medical, CSI & Reality TV on the air, it's nice to sit down to a well made family drama. I can't wait for Amazon to sell seasons 2 & 3 which are available in the UK, but not the US.

My ten yer old granddaughter was coming to spend a few weeks with us at the lake. I purchased this dvd set as back-up for a rainy day. She just loved it and amazingly, the adults loved it, too. This really is good family fare. We look forward to the release of the other series in region 1 format.

All around an outstanding show... Great production...

Only disappointment I have with the show is Rosie, who is very, very annoying...

Her sexual encounter in episode #4 was very disappointing, as was the casual reaction to it afterwards by the adults...

The inclusion of this scene seemed very disjointed, forced, and rather gratuitous...

Definitely takes a little luster off of it as being a family show, but not enough to warrant trashing it...

Still a great production...

I found this by accident...I was searching for some things done by Hayley Mills, and she was listed as being in this series. Having spent time in Africa and being partial to it, I ordered this hoping to see Hayley as well as just enjoying the beautiful African setting. The story, setting and actors are all absolutely wonderful, and I was hooked immediately...I watched the entire first season (only 6 episodes) over just two days, and now I'm ready for later seasons. I presume Hayley Mills doesn't show up until a later point, perhaps Series 2 or 3?? It's terribly disappointing that only Series One is available to view in the U.S. on our DVD format here. We cannot play the British/overseas versions of Series 2 and beyond. I really hope the rest of the series are prepared for sale here...I will buy them all, as will many others, I'm sure. This series if exceptional family viewing, and it appeals to adults just as much as children.

I love Stephen Tompkinson. We just finished watching the Ballykissangel series, and found this one. My 18 and 6 year old love it too. The setting takes place mainly in South Africa. Stephen plays a vet. The family relocates to SA to start a wild animal park. The animals are awesome and it's a lot of fun to watch. It is a great family series, but also enough action for the adults. We finished Series 1, however only to find out that none of the other series are formatted for the U.S. I did end up buying a region free dvd player so that we can order the UK version.

This is a great family series! It is both enjoyable and educational. The African bush landscapes and many types of African animals are fantastic. This is a story of a blended family struggling to live together. They vacation in Africa and the chance arises for them to partner with a grouchy Afrikaan man. It shows the family's struggles to hold together in adversity and their growing love and respect for each other. This series was too short (6 shows). I can't wait for the other four seasons already filmed to be made available for U.S. viewers.

Wild at Heart is an ongoing British TV drama which is currently broadcasting its fifth season in the UK. The premise is that a veterinarian and his new wife get overwhelmed with big city life in London and jump on an opportunity to move to Africa with their difficult blended family to help establish a wildlife preserve/resort and forge real family bonds while doing so. The vet is played by Stephen Tompkinson, who was the original priest in the very famous Irish series Ballykissangel, and it was as a result of enjoying his other work that we tried out this show. We're very happy that we did. Who hasn't at some time or another fantasized about pulling up roots, leaving your troubles behind, and starting over in some exotic place? Wild at Heart shows the ups and downs, the fantasy and the reality of such an adventure. There are very rewarding aspects of the work but very trying ones as well, and the family has to cope with those as well as the complex issues that any newly blended family faces. The scenery is beautiful, the animals magnificent, the acting excellent, and the stories are absorbing and exciting. This DVD set contains the entire first season, which is six episodes. Unfortunately, no further seasons have been released on Region 1 DVDs. Since we enjoy British television so much, we purchased a region-free DVD player and we ordered all the available seasons of Wild at Heart on Region 2 DVDs from the British Amazon.co.uk website. This has started us exploring a lot of other British televisions shows that have never been shown in the U.S.... We would hate to miss another one as good as Wild at Heart.

Does anyone know where one can purchase the series "WILD AT HEART" with Stephen Tompkinson in Spanish? V-ME, which is the Spanish channel of PBS, is currently showing it with the name "AFRICA DE MI CORAZON." I have seen it in English and am now enjoying it in Spanish. It is too good not to share.

Thank you.