Hunted, TV review: Unconvincing cross between The Bourne Ultimatum and 28 Days Later

The Channel 4 programme was a weak piece of reality TV filmed as drama in which the citizens concerned were a bit fed up with CCTV

Chasing pack: ‘Hunted’ was a weak piece of reality TV filmed as drama (Channel 4)

I confess I came to Hunted ‘cold’. I didn’t read the review notes before watching, so I didn’t have much idea about that it was about before I viewed it. Or, indeed, after.

The first few panicky frames of action established it as a sort of cross between the Bourne Ultimatum and 28 Days Later: Citizens turned refugees, desperate to escape some unnamed menace. What could this be, in this Britain of the near future? A nuclear accident? A zombie invasion? The EU referendum?

It transpired that the citizens concerned were bit fed up with CCTV being all over the place, which is just a ridiculous premise. Equally unconvincing, I thought, were some of the main characters; the nice middle-class Surrey gels were almost realistic, but there as a GP from Kent who was like a wimpish version of Ray Winstone, that is to say like no medic I have ever encountered, with a name no doctor could possibly have – ‘Ricky Allen”.

Increasingly confused, I did then turn to the background info provided by Channel 4, and discovered that rather than Hunted being a weak piece of drama filmed as reality TV, it was in fact a weak piece of reality TV filmed as drama. So yes, there really is a GP from Kent named Ricky Allen and I would like to apologise to him. And the ex-coppers doing the hunting in what appeared to be a cheaply made set were indeed ex-coppers in a cheaply made set.

The bit where the hunters do eventually catch up with two of the fugitives was surprisingly gripping, though the “captured” woman didn’t seem to realise it was all make belief. I actually found it reassuring that the authorities can indeed track down miscreants with such relative ease. Anyway it was mostly pointless, whatever it was, and not half as entertaining as the CCTV clips that you can gorge yourself on on YouTube.