History
Wild at Heart began airing 29 January 2006 on ITV. It ran for seven series, concluding 30 December 2012 with a two-hour finale. It was filmed on location at the Glen Afric Country Lodge, a 1500-acre game reserve and sanctuary that is home to a host of African wildlife, including lions, giraffes, elephants, cheetahs, hippos and buffalo. Glen Afric is located in Broederstroom, North West Province, South Africa. [1] A large set called 'Leopards Den' was built on the property specifically for the production. Producer Ann Harrison-Baxter said: "We literally walked every inch of the reserve to find the best place to build the house, and then it was all created from scratch and aged to look like it had been there for more than a century in just 10 weeks!" [2] Leopards Den was significant as a symbolic character in its own right throughout the show's 7 years. It served as the backdrop against which the family struggled to carve out a new life for themselves, and ultimately to survive and remain together.
Broederstroom is a small town situated on the Daspoortrand in the foothills of the Magaliesberg mountains in the North West Province of South Africa.
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by 2,798 kilometres (1,739 mi) of coastline of Southern Africa stretching along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countries of Namibia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe; and to the east and northeast by Mozambique and Eswatini (Swaziland); and it surrounds the enclaved country of Lesotho. South Africa is the largest country in Southern Africa and the 25th-largest country in the world by land area and, with over 57 million people, is the world's 24th-most populous nation. It is the southernmost country on the mainland of the Old World or the Eastern Hemisphere. About 80 percent of South Africans are of Sub-Saharan African ancestry, divided among a variety of ethnic groups speaking different African languages, nine of which have official status. The remaining population consists of Africa's largest communities of European (White), Asian (Indian), and multiracial (Coloured) ancestry.
The primary cast included Stephen Tompkinson as Danny Trevanion; Amanda Holden as Danny's wife Sarah (died in Series 3); Lucy-Jo Hudson as Danny's daughter Rosie; Deon Stewardson as the Trevanions' business partner Anders DuPlessis ('Dup'); Hayley Mills as Caroline DuPlessis; Luke Ward-Wilkinson as Danny's stepson Evan; Olivia Scott-Taylor as Danny's step-daughter Olivia; Nomsa Xaba as Nomsa – Leopard Den's cook and housekeeper; and Thapelo Mokoena as the town's barman and Dup's 'partner in crime', Cedric Fatani. Dawn Steele appeared regularly in Series 4–6 as Alice Collins (later Trevanion), but took maternity leave for all but one episode of Series 7, returning for the Christmas finale. Tarryn Faye Brummage played Alice's daughter Charlotte, and Atandwa Kani appeared in Series 6–7.
Stephen Phillip Tompkinson is an English actor, known for his television roles as Marcus in Chancer (1990), Damien Day in Drop the Dead Donkey (1990–98), Father Peter Clifford in Ballykissangel (1996–98), Trevor Purvis in Grafters (1998–99), Danny Trevanion in Wild at Heart (2006–13) and Alan Banks in DCI Banks (2010–16). He won the 1994 British Comedy Award for Best TV Comedy Actor. He also starred in the films Brassed Off (1996) and Hotel Splendide (2000).
Amanda Louise Holden is a British television presenter and talent competition judge, actress, singer, writer, media personality and radio presenter. She has judged on the TV talent show competition Britain's Got Talent since the show began in 2007 on ITV. Holden played the role of Sarah Trevanion in Wild at Heart (2006–2008) and the title role in Thoroughly Modern Millie, for which she was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award. More recently she has presented various television shows for ITV including Superstar (2012), This Morning and Give a Pet a Home (2015).
Lucy-Jo Hudson is an English actress, best known for her roles as Katy Harris in Coronation Street, Donna-Marie Quinn in Hollyoaks and Rosie Trevanion in the ITV drama Wild at Heart from 2006–09. Her recurring role of Rhiannon Davis in Doctors in 2016 earned her 2017 British Soap Award for Villain of the Year.
Wild at Heart was immensely popular in the UK, with ratings peaking at approximately 10 million viewers and never averaging less than 7.5 million over any series (see below). However, the show faced strong competition during Series 7 and speculation appeared in British online newspaper articles in February 2012 that Wild at Heart would be axed after Series 7. [3] In April 2012, similar statements appeared, but ITV did not publish a formal press release confirming that the show was cancelled. On 25 April 2012 the Daily Mail published the following: "A spokesperson for ITV said it had been a 'difficult decision' to end Wild at Heart but hoped the feature-length special would give the show, which first aired in 2006, a chance to end 'on a high'." [4]
The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market newspaper published in London in a tabloid format. Founded in 1896, it is the United Kingdom's second-biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982, while Scottish and Irish editions of the daily paper were launched in 1947 and 2006 respectively. Content from the paper appears on the MailOnline website, although the website is managed separately and has its own editor.
The two-hour finale special was filmed at Leopards Den in September 2012 and aired on 30 December 2012 on ITV. ITV's Head of Drama Series Steve November said: "Wild at Heart will end on a high thanks to the fantastic cast, crew and writing team who produce the drama. We couldn't wish for a better script to celebrate an immensely successful series for ITV." [5] The finale special was followed on 31 December 2012, by a one-hour documentary titled Wild at Heart: Filming With Animals (see below).
In a BBC Radio 2 interview with Simon Mayo on 24 October 2012, Stephen Tompkinson said, "We got back [from South Africa] about three weeks ago [after filming the finale special]. It was very sad to say 'goodbye'...We are ending it in a way that will let you know it's really the end. We're not sort-of loosely hanging on to go try and get a Christmas Special or a Valentine's Day Special out of it. This is it. It ends with a lovely wedding; I'm not going to say who." (Note: BBC Radio 2 makes their interviews available via iPlayer for only a brief period and this interview is no longer available.)
BBC Radio 2 is one of the BBC's two flagship national radio stations and the most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 15 million weekly listeners. Much of its daytime playlist-based programming is adult contemporary or AOR, although the station also broadcasts other specialist musical genres. Radio 2 broadcasts throughout the UK on FM between 88.1 and 90.2 MHz from studios in Wogan House, adjacent to Broadcasting House in central London. Programmes are relayed on digital radio via DAB, Sky, Cable TV, IPTV, Freeview, Freesat and the Internet.
Simon Andrew Hicks Mayo is an English radio presenter and author who has worked for BBC Radio since 1982. Mayo was the presenter of Simon Mayo Drivetime on BBC Radio 2 between January 2010 and May 2018 and is, with Mark Kermode, presenter of Kermode and Mayo's Film Review on BBC Radio 5 Live. Mayo was the presenter of a revamped drive time show on Radio 2 with Jo Whiley which was broadcast between 14 May 2018 and 20 December 2018. Mayo presented the last show solo the following day, which marked the end of his career on the station after 17 years.
Wild at Heart aired as a simulcast on TV3 Ireland. [6] The pilot episode was remade for an American audience, with a predominantly American cast, different characters and a loosely similar plot line. It succeeded enough for a first full series to be commissioned with the title Life Is Wild . It aired on The CW Television Network in the U.S., the Hallmark Channel in the United Kingdom, Skai TV in Greece and Warner Channel in South Africa. However, ratings were low and the show was cancelled after Series 1.
On 14 January 2013, ITV3 began airing twice-daily repeats of Wild at Heart, beginning with the first episode of the first Series. Later beginning reruns again from 7 May 2015.
On 27 October 2017, Deon Stewardson was found dead in a Graaff-Reinet accommodation outlet, with the police confirming it being suicide.
Offscreen
On 9 November 2010, cast and crew returned to the Glen Afric reserve to find that Hamley, a very friendly giraffe that had appeared regularly in the series, had been killed by a lightning strike during a thunderstorm. [8] Stephen Tompkinson said, "There was a giraffe called Hamley. He was an amazing creature. I spent hours with him – usually every morning outside my dressing room. He used to come up and put his head by the first-floor window to have his ears and horns scratched. He was struck by lightning...I’d just introduced him to some friends who had come to visit and two hours later I got a call saying he was dead. It was very shocking. It was like losing a human cast member – he was such a part of the show. It just reminds you when your number's up there's nothing you can do about it, so enjoy it while you can." [9]
When asked how Wild At Heart affected the local area in South Africa where it was filmed, Stephen Tompkinson replied: "A few years ago we opened up a community centre in Brazzaville, which is the local township. We also donated money to sort out the water system there and provide more tanks so people didn't have to walk miles to get water every day. It was lovely to be able to give something back....I’m very, very proud of what we all achieved together on Wild At Heart." [10]
