Throng

Wild at Heart
Sunday 20 January 2008 7:50pm - 8:50pm on ITV1.

This series Wild at Heart catches up with British vet Danny Trevanion (Stephen Tompkinson – Prime Suspect, Marian Again, In Denial of Murder) and his family as they strive to expand the veterinary practice and co-exist with their neighbours through a drought which grips the region.

Amanda Holden (Cutting It, Mad About Alice, Hearts and Bones) is Danny’s wife, Sarah, busy juggling work and family life, and Lucy-Jo Hudson (Coronation Street), as daughter Rosie, is keen to prove herself an able vet assistant to her father while romancing bar owner Max (Martinus Van Der Berg).

Hayley Mills (Tiger Bay, Whistle Down the Wind, The Flame Trees of Thika) is Sarah’s out spoken mother, Caroline, and Deon Stewardson returns as the Trevanion’s ill-tempered business partner Du Plessis.

This year the weather brought problems of its own to the show.

Producer Nick Goding says: “Having filmed for two months in blazing sunshine through the winter, during which we only had two hours of rain in ten weeks, we created a storyline featuring the drought. But two weeks into the final block, just as we started the drought episode, the weather changed dramatically and thunderstorms consistently interrupted filming. Fortunately the director, Nick Laughland, had discussed this threat with the design and costume teams, and asked for no-one to wear green, and green to be avoided in all aspects of design outside so that we can grade the pictures to make South Africa look arid even though it has just had its wettest Spring for years. We even had to bring in truck loads of brown grass from nearby areas that had drier weather.”

And the weather wasn’t the only natural occurrence to hinder filming…

“When we started filming with the tiger cubs they were six weeks old, about 18 inches long and looked adorable. By the end of the third episode it became clear that we would have to use them a lot differently from planned as they were starting to maul the cast while playing with them. By the end of filming they were six months old, and about four feet long; standing on two legs, they were the same height as Lucy-Jo.”

This year brought with it one of the biggest planned stunts in Wild at Heart’s history. Nick explains: “The scene involved setting fire to the animal hospital that the Trevanians had fought so hard for. The burn had been planned and planned and planned. On the day we had five cameras to get the footage we needed to tell the story with the cast and fire in the same frame.

“The estimated burn time from ignition to structural collapse had been estimated at 25-30 minutes. Following several rehearsals without fire, but with covering smoke, we readied ourselves for the torching moment, and rolled cameras. Within four minutes of lighting the fuses, the whole structure was burnt to the ground, but still we managed to get the action shots.”

In the first episode of the new series, business at Leopard’s Den isn’t yet flourishing, so Sarah (Amanda Holden) decides that new luxury accommodation which will attract wealthy guests is the answer to their financial problems.

Danny (Stephen Tompkinson) is finding it tough to juggle mending the fences, his veterinary practice and the health of his animals. A zebra dies unexpectedly, and he needs to stop whatever killed it spreading to other animals.

Sarah is on a shopping trip with her mother Caroline (Hayley), purchasing soft furnishings for the new accommodation, when there is a problem with Sarah’s card. The bank has frozen her credit as they are constantly overdrawn.

Zebras slip through the damaged fencing into the neighbouring reserve, Mara, angering the manager, Fatani (Thapelo Mokoena). As Danny tries to smooth things over he finds two tiger cubs in Fatani’s ‘zoo for endangered species’ and is outraged. Especially as they are not indigenous to Africa he demands to see their papers. Sarah wants to tell Danny about their financial situation, but Caroline won’t allow her, insisting it will be okay after the inspector has visited and upgraded Leopard’s Den. However when the new fencing isn’t delivered the following day, Danny is informed that his cheque bounced.

Later Fatani arrives to accuse Danny of taking his missing tiger cubs. Danny knows nothing about it but in retaliation, Fatani lures away workers from Leopard’s Den with the promise of instant cash. Things go from bad to worse when Danny learns that his lab bills are still outstanding. This makes him realise it was all down to Sarah and Caroline’s spending. He is very angry with Sarah for her deceit.

Danny works out that Evan is involved in the disappearance of the tiger cubs. Fatani threatens police action if the cubs are not returned but he doesn’t bank on the combined force of the Trevanions and their desire to protect these rare animals.

When the inspector arrives the next day the lodges are still far from finished. The inspector is appalled at the shambolic nature of the place, but Sarah has come to understand that Leopard’s Den should never be about superficial luxuries.

Wild at Heart is produced by Nick Goding and the series producer is Suzan Harrison. It is directed by Nigel Douglas, Juliet May and Nick Laughland and written by Ashley Pharoah, Jack Williams, Michael Chaplin, Kieran Prendiville and Andy Watts. The executive producers are Ashley Pharoah, Charlie Pattinson and George Faber. It is a Company Pictures production for ITV.