Joel Fry-days: Play for Today: Series 2, Episode 1 – Wild (2026)

Okay, not a drill, we have another new Joel Fry project! And honestly, while this one-off TV dramedy is fairly good, his character/performance is just excellent! I know I sound embarrassingly easy to please throughout most of my reviews, but it’s not my fault that Fry keeps playing characters I adore so much.

Play for Today is a revival of a BBC anthology series from the ‘70s-’80s, with each episode telling a self-contained story (and the new series makes a point of showcasing new writing/directing talent.) In Wild, three old friends from university head to the Scottish Highlands for their 27th annual wilderness camping trip. It’s Lou’s turn to plan it this year, and he’s got big ideas, ranging from doing things old-school (with a map and no phones) to filming the trip for posterity via GoPros. Naturally, it’s not long before everything starts going wrong. As the guys get bug-bitten, lost, and hungry, tempers flare and longstanding insecurities/resentments start coming out. Will they—and their friendship—survive this camping trip?

The premise is pretty basic, from both a comedy and a drama perspective, but for the most part, I enjoy how the story digs into it. All sorts of wilderness mishaps in store, and the guys’ bickering verges on childish at times. Lou presents as a cross between a bumbler who thinks he knows everything about the great outdoors (this is the year he’s finally gonna catch a rabbit, he swears!) and a trip tyrant who’s weirdly insistent about his rules, even as things go off the rails. But while there may not be method in his madness, there is a deeper reason behind it. Alistair, who’s married with a young child, frequently becomes the butt of the joke for the other two, who paint him as the guy who got lame after he settled down. And Lou also uses Alistair as an object lesson for Dev, who’s irritated that Lou refused to let his girlfriend accompany them on the trip. It’s painfully obvious that Lou, as he clings onto their university glory days, is afraid of losing Dev to “lame” married life, so the dynamic between the three men partially becomes a power struggle over which way Dev wants his life to go. As for Dev, he’s not quite sure himself, and Lou and Alistair sort of become the devil and angel on his shoulder as he considers his future.

More than anything, this is a story about men being afraid to be open and vulnerable with each other. They sublimate their feelings into camping and squabbling because they can’t let themselves be honest about their fears and insecurities. It’s literally the meme, “Men will [do anything] before going to therapy,” and for the guys to get through this trip in one piece, it’s going to take more than just their wilderness skills.

Despite the beautifully expansive setting of the Scottish Highlands, this is quite an intimate story. While Dev’s girlfriend and Alistair’s family get name-checked, the only characters onscreen are the three guys. I’ve seen Daniel Mays in a number of things, most memorably his guest-starring episode of Doctor Who (“Night Terrors,” from the Eleventh Doctor era,) and he gives his all as Lou. The guy is kind of a mess but desperately trying not to be, clinging tight to this camping trip with both hands even as things fall apart. I’ve seen Amit Shah, who plays Dev, in various sundries—he’s a Doctor Who alum as well (he was in the Thirteenth Doctor’s debut episode,) and he had a small role in an episode of White Van Man with Joel Fry! Even though we only see the three guys on this particular trip, both the story and Shah’s performance do a nice job of showing how Dev regresses to his university self when he’s around his mates, especially Lou, who eggs him on. 

That leaves Joel Fry as Alistair. While IMDb credits him as such, the other guys spend a good 95% of the story calling him “Al.” But since sans-serif fonts can’t distinguish between a lower-case “L” and an upper-case “i,” we’ll stick with “Alistair” so it doesn’t look like this guy is called “Artificial Intelligence.”

Oh, man. Alistair—my sweet, asthmatic, uncool dad-friend. What a guy! He tries to join in with Lou and Dev’s laddish mockery, but he’s not very good at it, either stumbling over his words as he tries to come up with a zinger or being too earnest to keep it up when one of his mates looks bothered by it. So instead, he becomes the prime target of mockery. Lou is particularly invested in making him look bad, and he sucks Dev into it too. They gripe about Alistair’s asthma making him the “weak link” who slows the group down (Chekhov’s inhaler makes its appearance in the first five minutes of the episode,) but then they laugh at his insistence that he can keep up with them. Condescendingly, they urge Alistair to stay in his lane and play to his strengths, which include “[smashing] the school run out the park” (“I’m never late,” he agrees stoically) and “[thinking] of the perfect Secret Santa gift.” Insert The Good Place meme: “That’s an unmarried-bros insult. It’s devastating. You’re devastated right now.”

I’m reminded a lot of Daniel from Alice and Steve, another of Fry’s characters who’s emasculated a lot for being a gentle wife guy who doesn’t perform masculinity the “right” way. While Alistair is quicker than Daniel to stand up for himself, he’s also quicker to be negatively influenced by his friends’ insults. The cracks about his asthma are a particular sticking point for him, and he gets himself too invested in trying to prove he can keep up with the others, to his own detriment.

Look, I love Alistair, okay? I love him. Like all three guys, he’s a bit too allergic to admitting vulnerability, although he’s at least made a little more progress on that front than Lou and Dev have. He touts the waterproof rating of his GPS. He covers his face with both hands when a swarm of midges descends, creating temporary strategic openings for his mouth when he needs to talk. He sometimes plays peacemaker and sometimes gets swept up in the bickering. He mumbles apologies when he fumbles a big armful of firewood moments after describing himself as “steady [and] composed.” He hums and sings to himself. He has hard limits where he absolutely will not let his friends talk shit.

Joel Fry’s performance hits all the right notes. Alistair is caring and observant and pedantic, sweet and dorky, by turns confident and insecure. Just a terrific character! The little details in Fry’s acting keep Alistair feeling specific and grounded—although the character is a fairly recognizable “type,” he feels well-rounded on the screen.

Accent Watch

Southern British English, maybe a bit London.

Recommend?

In General – I probably would. It paints in fairly broad strokes sometimes, but it’s ultimately a nice story, and the three guys are very believable as old university mates whose friendship is being held together (yet simultaneously tested by) camping trips.

Joel Fry – 100%, yes! Alistair is fantastic, and Fry is really great here!

Warnings

Plenty of “don’t try this at home,” language, and thematic elements.

Joel Fry-days: Alice and Steve: Season 1, Episode 6 (2026)

*Spoilers from episode 5*

Hoo boy. Okay, we’re at the season finale. Big, big developments going on here, maybe too much to wrap up all at once. While Joel Fry’s performance is as wonderful as always, I do think Daniel’s story gets shortchanged amid everything else going on.

So, spoilers from the last episode. At Izzy’s ultrasound, she and Steve found out she was further along than she thought. This means her ex-boyfriend Janis, not Steve, is the father of her baby. Steve is still determined to be there for her and the baby, though, and he proposes. Oh my god…

A coach bus has brought the wedding party and guests out to a fancy old manor house in the country. (Izzy isn’t really showing yet, so this is all very quick.)  Steve and Izzy both have their own separate freakouts, and Alice is on the verge of spontaneous combustion.

I won’t get into too many details to avoid spoiling things, so I’ll keep my thoughts a little more general here. Not surprisingly, Alice is handling none of this well, and she’s not shy about showing it. The rehearsal dinner is a disaster, though only partially because of her. For part of the episode, Steve is convinced that she’s trying to murder him, with Alice not doing much to assuage his concerns on that front. 

Everything gets very twisty-turny, and while there are some hints toward where a resolution might be heading, we don’t actually arrive there. That’s because of a big third-act crisis that throws everything else into stark relief. Rather than seeing how things turn out, we end on an all-but-literal cliffhanger. I’m still deciding how I feel about the ending, which isn’t fully satisfying where the narrative is concerned but might still be cathartic in its own way. I haven’t wrapped my mind all the way around it yet.

Our last character of the week is Eilidh Fisher as Rome, the person Dom has been dating. They’re a gentle nerd, and the two characters are cute together. Here, Rome offers comfort to Dom as the pre-wedding festivities highlight the train wreck that his family has rapidly become.

When episode 5 ended with the proposal, I suspected that the finale likely wouldn’t have enough time to devote much to Daniel, and I was right. Given that it’s his daughter’s wedding, he’s around for plenty of it, and there are some good moments for his character, but his story isn’t really dealt with. None of the stuff from episodes 3 and 4 about his sexual needs are mentioned at all, and while there’s a hint toward what his resolution may be with Alice, it feels too simplistic for everything that’s gone down between them during the series.

But even if he doesn’t get much in the way of his ongoing story, there are still some strong scenes for Daniel in this episode, and as Joel Fry has done time and again in so many supporting roles, he doesn’t waste a single opportunity.

Daniel has brought Marni as a guest to the wedding, which obviously turns heads. When she’s apprehensive about being there, Daniel firmly tells her, “Seriously, [Alice] took her best friend to every single event for our entire marriage. It's my daughter's wedding, and I can invite my best friend if I want to.” So sweet! I also enjoy a soft moment the two of them share on the grounds of the manor house, and when the crisis hits, Daniel proves both brave and proactive. My favorite part, though, comes during the rehearsal dinner. As things start spiralling out of control, Alice is predictably focused on herself while Daniel’s primary concern is Izzy. There’s a fantastic bit when he steps in to give Izzy some breathing room at a point where she’s clearly distressed and Steve is just making things worse. Throughout the series, it’s been really lovely to see how Daniel looks out for her amid all the chaos and drama that’s erupted.

So that’s Alice and Steve! Is it the end? I’m guessing so—renewal doesn’t seem all that likely to me, but who knows? Personally, I'm so curious for more of Daniel's story! But for now, I’ll sign off with my final thoughts on the show.

Accent Watch

Southern British English.

Recommend?

In General – Ultimately, I think I would, providing you can handle the troubling subject matter and the strong secondhand-discomfort factor at times. It’s certainly not the most enjoyable show, considering how vicious some of the characters can be, but it’s a compelling one.

Joel Fry – 100%, yes! I’m finding that, if the role gives him basically anything to work with, Fry always gives you a performance worth watching, and he turns in fantastic work on this show.

Warnings

Strong thematic elements (including a troubling age-gap relationship setup,) sexual content, language, drinking/smoking/drug use, a bloody injury, and the general ick of messy people being their worst selves.

Joel Fry-days: Alice and Steve: Season 1, Episode 5 (2026)

*Spoilers for episode 4*

Oh man, here we are at the penultimate episode! I had definite misgivings about this show early on, but it’s really come around for me. It features continually excellent performances from Joel Fry, so that obviously helps, but beyond that, I’m liking the show itself too. Let’s get into it!

First, the main spoilers from episode 4. Alice had been staying with her mom while Daniel needed space, and at her mom’s urging, she shows up at the house to win him back. It’s while Marni’s there, which of course doesn’t help. It all ends in a pretty devastating argument between them. Meanwhile, Izzy gets some concerning medical news and calls Steve to go with her to the doctor, despite their breakup at the start of the episode. It turns out her tests came back normal, with one notable exception: she’s pregnant.

Izzy and Steve invite Alice and Daniel to a fancy restaurant, where they drop the baby bombshell. After an initial outburst, Alice fights a losing battle to hold back her emotional reaction and act happy for Izzy.

Our character of the week is Dom, played by Tyrese Eaton-Dyce. While Alice had already had Izzy when she and Daniel met, Dom is the child that they had together. He gets less focus than Alice, Izzy, and Daniel. In this episode, he struggles to let himself enjoy spending time with his crush Rome when he’s stressed over everything that’s going on with his family.

For a while, I thought this was going to be a bottle episode, set entirely in the restaurant. But this only makes up the first half of the episode, with the second half devoted to various character combinations—largely Alice/Daniel and Izzy/Steve, though there’s also a bit of Dom/Rome, with the mother-daughter relationship between Alice and Izzy looming large even when they’re not sharing the screen together.

In some episodes, it’s felt like Alice’s anger/desire to punish Steve has outweighed her love/concern for Izzy, but here, her relationship with Izzy comes to the forefront. It feels like this is the first time in the series that we’ve seen Alice make a genuine effort to put someone else’s feelings first, even if that’s incredibly hard for her and she’s only semi-successful. She stands up in the middle of the restaurant and shouts for someone to take their drink order, she goes to the bathroom when her “happy” tears are getting out of control, and she reminisces about vaginal tearing. But despite all that, she actually is trying, and there are some good moments between her and Izzy here.

Daniel doesn’t like this turn of events any better than Alice does, but no surprise, he does a much better job of putting a good face on it. He asks after Izzy’s health and assures her it’ll “be lovely to have another little one running around the house.” As for his own reservations, he waits and voices them to Steve when Alice and Izzy are both away from the table. Shoutout to Daniel as the dad who stepped up! Joel Fry plays all of this wonderfully, navigating Daniel’s tension/apprehension but playing nice for Izzy’s sake.

To make matters even more difficult, this whole conversation is happening against the backdrop of the existing friction in Alice and Daniel’s marriage. They’re the first two to arrive at the restaurant, both under the impression that they’re just meeting Izzy, and Alice asks, “Is she parent trapping us?” At first, Daniel smiles along with her joking, but then she starts making light of their fight, which he doesn’t appreciate. So even before Steve and Izzy arrive, things are tense between the two of them, and yet they do still care about each other. There’s a good moment where Daniel sees Alice struggling to cope with the baby news and isn’t sure if he ought to reach out with a comforting gesture.

In the interactions that are just between Alice and Daniel here, there’s a bit of a theme of them starting to reconnect and then getting derailed. Daniel feels Alice doesn’t prioritize their relationship, and she’s not doing a stellar job of convincing him otherwise. Although it’s clear that Alice does want to resolve matters with Daniel, she keeps getting them off track, whether it’s by joking about something he takes seriously or coming in with some brutal honesty that just makes him feel worse. By the end, he’s retreated into his own worst habits—avoidance and a tendency to get a little petty/passive-aggressive.

One more episode to go! Will any of these messy, damaged folks work it out? At this point, I’m not quite sure what “working it out” would look like for them. Guess we’ll see!