Heat (2023– ) User Reviews

Better than you'd think (not just based on ten minutes.)

[Sleepin_Dragon · 6/10 · 19 July 2023]

Steve and Sarah travel to the outback to spend holiday time with their friends Brad and Louise. It isn't long before secrets and lies ruin the break, but worse for them, a wildfire threatens their very lives.

It's better than you may think, and come on, why are people reviewing a series based on 20 minutes of one episode, that's unfair.

Channel five advertised this very heavily, clearly a bigger budget than the usual C5 dramas, and of course notable for being Danny Dyer's first series post EastEnders.

If I'm being honest, I'd say it's a decent watch, I was expecting something big and bold, and it has its moments, but you have to wait for things to kick off. Episodes one, two and three are all solid, but all are fairly restrained, you have to wait until the concluding episode for things to kick off.

It's very well shot, it looks great, the filming crew made perfect use of the stunning location, some scenes are incredible.

Talk about relevant for the current time, record temperatures, bush fires proving to be a massive threat. I'm unsure if they used historical footage or CGI, but the disaster scenes looked realistic.

I like Danny Dyer, and I think that he does a pretty good job, I don't think you'd say he's centre stage here, Darren McMullen is essentially the main player, he stood out for me.

It's not brilliant, but compared to a lot of what's out there, it wasn't bad.

6/10.

Watchable

[N-whymark · 7/10 · 24 July 2023]

Wasn't sure about this . First thing I've seen Danny dyer in anything since leaving eastenders . Maybe he will Always be mick Carter in My eyes . Set in Australia a drama about a friendship between two sets of families and their secrets and lies slowly coming out . Some good acting from the other male (don't know him name ) some lies and twists and turns . Beautiful house it was set in. With bush fires all around them the one male lies about asking for help and about a helicopter coming . Ending was good . Nice to see Danny dyer and I did laugh when he keeps swearing with his cockney accent . Was like having mick back but no Linda .

Worth a watch .

Ignore the negative rating/ reviews it's actually pretty good !!

[chloegalley · 6/10 · 18 July 2023]

So after seeing the trailer for this on my 5 I thought looks pretty decent got Danny dyer in it wouldn't say he is great actor but I quite like him. The first episode is a bit slow but it does definitely get better and you do get hooked and want to watch more. The storyline is pretty good with some twist and turns and was not expecting which way the storyline was going but was very gripping. The acting is good especially from Darren McMullen ( Brad fisher) he was the best one out of all the cast. I thought I would give Danny dyer a chance with acting after being in Eastenders it's quite hard leaving a soap to then going into a drama playing a completely different character he was okay to be honest I wouldn't say he is a fantastic actor he gave his best maybe stick to another soap. I did feel like I was watching him playing Mick Carter ( Eastenders character) Heat does have stunning views of Australia which was one of the best features of the drama. If you think of going to watch this drama and get a outstanding performance from Danny dyer unfortunately you will be silently disappointed but the good thing is the storyline is the best bit you will be hooked after watching the first episode. You just need to give it chance to pick up. Heat is a 2023 drama thriller which consists of 4 episodes and filmed in the outback of Australia. Surprisingly it was good watch and quite enjoyed it. Don't go by the low score or negative reviews it really is not that bad in fact it was rather good most people who I know have seen it said the same thing. So if you want to watch a short drama then watch The heat it's rather good it's addictive. Heat with Danny after is steaming on My 5 right now so get watching !!!

Watchable, but don't expect too much

[mmillington554 · 6/10 · 3 August 2023]

This is quite good for a binge watch. The story develops quite well as various secrets of the family members are revealed and their real personalites become visible. Most come out of it badly, as their superficial niceness is pared away to reveal an array of personality faults. The only real exception is the young man who comes in as a badboy but justifies himself to become the saviour.

The narrative is far-fetched beyond belief at times, with many unrealistic scenes.

The setting - in the Australian outback - is stunning.

The acting is patchy.

Nice to see Richie Morris (ex-Neighbours) showing off his impeccable pecs and abs again!

Brits and Aussies in peril

[aussiedramafan · 7/10 · 27 January 2024]

It seems like every second drama shot in Australia now features a lead British or American actor. In the case of Heat it's two Brits, though one (Darren McMullen) has a local career while the other (Danny Dyer) is imported. It makes sense to have them play two expats who married Aussie women and had kids. The problem is Danny feels like he just arrived from the London EastEnd a week earlier - which evidently the actor did, fresh from EastEnders.

If you can get past this you will find an enjoyable drama. It's a familiar scenario - friends trapped in a situation,with ensuing secrets unfolding - but the nasty secret lurking beneath all the pleasantries turns out to be darker than you'd expect.

Performances are good (well maybe less so the cockney guy) and the final episode is gripping to watch. A solid 7 out of 10.

They should have set fire to the script

[GoldenGooner04 · 3/10 · 11 August 2023]

Danny Dyer is to acting what I am to pole dancing and I am a 5foot hairy bloke !

But its clever of C5 to put him with even worse actors, then we have the script. I take it this was written by the Eastenders lot on a day off.

I mean WTF its like making a cocktail with 2 many favours and afterwards being sick I take it Danny also lives in OZ as you don;t have a clue, Ch5 have made some bad stuff over the years but this takes the biscuit even the cake tin.

I do have a lot of respect for Danny built a career on zero talent and become a millionaire out of it.

Thank god it was only 4 episodes so thank you for that.

Poor Acting - Danny Dyer Disappoints

[unacraig · 2/10 · 23 August 2023]

To be fair, the story line is potentially a good one, and in my opinion the end result could have turned out much better, had they casted better actors (maybe the budget didn't stretch that far...). Sadly, it was really awful, the outcome is very disappointing.

It's basically Danny Dyer acting as cockney Mick Carter from East Enders, but instead of the Queen Vic he's now Down Under in Australia. How they came to the decision to pair Danny Dyer and Pia Miranda as a couple in this is beyond me, they are so poles apart, and it's just plain unrealistic!! I sooo wanted to enjoy this, but instead it was a bad joke on us, as it was a waste of time.

Soap opera with bush fire

[ladybananas · 3/10 · 9 October 2023]

SPOILERS AHEAD: The first episode started with a bit of promise - nice scenery, a bit of mystery, good production values, decent acting. About 20 minutes in, I realised that despite all that, the storyline was more of a soap opera. Of the 8 main cast, 7 of them had at least one *big bad secret* and it just got ridiculous. Two were cheating on spouses. One had lost all their money and being chased by loan sharks. One had a secret boyfriend. Secret boyfriend had a criminal past. One had a mysterious injury. One had a secret drug plot. Then one turned out to be a pedophile and murderer. All that - plus a bush fire approaching. It was just silly. Could have been good if they kept it a little more realistic but it was almost comical by the end.

An enjoyable binge watch

[Leeds1970 · 9/10 · 3 January 2024]

I watched this entire series on New Year's Day and at four episodes it's the perfect length. I like stories where a group of people find themselves in a situation they can't get out of which is the entire premise of the show, in this case an oncoming bushfire. Danny dyer gets top billing but it's an ensemble piece and he's not the strongest of leads given his habit of playing the same cockney type in everything he does. The real stand out is Darren McMullen who seems like a nice guy but turns out to be the opposite. I thought it had good twists and turns and it all builds to the final episode which is when the fire arrives and everything goes up in flames metaphorically.

Danny Dyer needs to be a more diverse actor

[bevowen · 5/10 · 17 August 2023]

I watched this show hoping that I would see a different side to Danny Dyer as an actor. Sadly I was disappointed, it was just watching Mick Carter from Eastenders in Australia!!!

Honestly, I am unsure why he always plays the same character and doesn't develop his acting to suit the script. His cockney accent is so over the top that it sounds so exaggerated that it makes me cringe now to hear open his mouth. I am sure Danny can get better scripts, if not, come back to Eastenders!!

The storyline is quite predictable and apart from the house which is amazing, sadly, I would give this show a miss.

Dreadful

[crumpytv · 1/10 · 6 August 2023]

I had to give up after 2 episodes.

It is quite awful.

This seems to be a familiar scenario, two families, over the top best buddies hail fellow well met, with brattish teenage progeny.

Of course there are secrets and lies and it all falls apart.

The characters are really shallow and I couldn't care for any of them.

Danny Dyer is simply awful. He can only be Danny Dyer, babe!

The sex scene with him had me reaching for the fast forward button it was so embarrassingly bad.

From the radio news in the car at the beginning you knew what the "heat" was going to be, and it hadn't arrived by the end of episode 2, but I wasn't inclined to hang around for any more of this dreadful drama.

Channel 5 at its worst.

Do not waste your time with this mini series.

[ricaldos40-523-193887 · 2/10 · 18 July 2023]

I thought I was in for a good watch with this, much hyped by Channel 5, mini series, but unfortunately, I was to find out I was badly mistaken .

After the first episode I realised this was going to be tough watch, but I was now invested, so would see it through.

The script writing was very poor, and at some points complete nonsense. The plot was all over the place, bouncing around like a pin ball. And as for the acting, well, on all parts was bad, very bad and for a certain actor, it was indeed Deir.

So I would urge you to spend your time watching something else. Or,(channelling my inner Danny) Give this a swerve geezer, it's full on pony!

Bruiser Dyer totally miscast, he spoils the whole thing.

[Birminghamukengland · 1/10 · 18 July 2023]

I'm 3/4s through the first episode.

I've never watched East Enders but am aware of Dyer.

How on earth does he get acting parts. The guy cannot act.

So far the characters are unbelievable, Dyer's mouse like wife with as much personality as jacket potato.

The sex scene with Dyer made me regurgitate my bacon roll and the general gratuitous scene was totally unnecessary.

The only positives were the Australian accent and scenery of Australia.

So, I need more characters for some unknown reason. I'll use those to summarise that this is generally a load of poorly written, poorly acted nonsense with Dyer who should get a job he actually is good at.

Twisted tale of two families

[wheeler-86739 · 9/10 · 21 January 2024]

I didn't know anything about this show before watching it but found myself hooked after the first episode. The title makes it sound like it's going to be about having sex or a fire and it turns out to be about both, but really it's about two families and the dynamics between them. It doesn't reinvent the wheel but the secrets and lies have some decent twists and turns with things not turning out the way they initially seem. The cinematography around the river is quite breathtaking though the music choices were a bit grating. The sound in general was a bit loud at times so a point lost for that but otherwise a great binge watch.

This is Australian rubbish at it's worst.

[daffyduck-06098 · 1/10 · 25 October 2023]

This is some of the worst acting and story lines I have seen in a long time! We have come to expect Australian made TV and movies are some of the best made, but this piece of rubbish is letting the country down big time! Terrible and corny story line which is not rescued by the equally bad acting, the best thing about this is it is only 4 episodes. Channel 10 needs to take stock of where they put their money because shows will end up being their demise, we the viewers deserve much better that this rubbish. I have marked this review as having spoilers in it, the spoilers are that this is incredibly bad on every level. Don't waste your time.

Awful.

[KJOY · 1/10 · 25 October 2023]

Being a fan of Pia Miranda and Jane Allsop, I was looking forward to this. The lengthy ad build up gave the impression it was actually about bushfires.

Darren McMullen is consistently bad as an actor so I had zero expectations. Especially given the lead in show is Celebrity Amazing Race where he is proving to be a pretty awful human.

Had never heard of the import actor (seems to be a requirement to get these series funded lately ala the recent equally woeful Riptide) Danny Dyer. He was dreadful. Zero acting ability and every scene just consisted of him looking stressed and mumbling incoherently.

Richie Morris is already known for Neighbours and is a great upcoming actor. The younger cast were all great in their roles.

The problem. Well the script. All of it. Clearly written by someone who has never been within a thousand km of a bushfire region. And just too predictable. Every plot line was old. Nothing original.

Costume Dept - at the point one can see smoke one goes inside and takes off flouncy flammable ankle length skirt and puts on jeans & long sleeved shirt. And the teen girl - in shorts no bigger than undies - yep that's safe in a bushfire. Good grief. Combination of poor script direction and poor wardrobe department not thinking logically.

I think these series set in Aus with predominantly Aus actors and a Brit import or two & financed by Brit channels - are written in a way that Brit's think Australia is and the way they think Australians are. This was the same with Riptide where every Aus characterisation was hilarious and embarrassing.

I'm glad actors are getting work but I wish it was something worth putting on their CV.

Oh and to the Brit reviewers who keep referring to the "outback" please stop embarrassing yourselves. The location of the storyline is in the hills an hour from Melbourne. Not the "outback". It's literally where the bushfires are every single year.

Awful, just awful

[gaysanford-33944 · 1/10 · 26 October 2023]

Let me start by saying that I am Australian. Over the years we have made some excellent TV shows, but this is definitely not one of them!

I found it quite cringeworthy. Really bad acting, terrible script-lines, corny storylines which even the fabulous scenery cannot compensate for. The whole thing is really just an embarrassment. As if people carry on the way these characters do. And, during a life-threatening bushfire!!

The main guy is so annoying (I've never watched Eastenders, but am thinking, thank goodness) and Pia Miranda as his wife is abysmal!

Please avoid at all costs. You'll find it's an insult to your intelligence.

Eastenders calling.

[kristhebass · 3/10 · 31 July 2023]

If this was supposed to bring Danny Dyer back to real acting, it has failed miserably. Not only was he still playing Mick Carter the whole premise of the series was awful. I was a nothing story that went absolutely nowhere.

I saw him once in a episode of Foyle's War, he was much the same in that, sadly he is one trick pony. I can hear Eastenders calling with a miraculous rising from the dead (After all they have done it more than once) remember no body was found to give him a chance to return.

I stuck with the first three episodes hoping there would a point to it all but couldn't bring myself to watch the last one. It was dire (pun intended)

Good twisty drama

[dtviewer · 9/10 · 11 February 2024]

I really got into this series and watched it in one sitting. I'm probably in the minority in that I'm not familiar with Danny Dyer's work in a certain British soap but I enjoyed him here. I dare say it called for a more layered performance and I think he delivered that. The other cast members are good in what is essentially a one-story show about two families stuck in a beautiful country home while a bushfire comes their way. The beginning could have been faster and the fire itself takes a bit too long to arrive but once it does there's a dramatic conclusion to it all. I didn't expect one of the deaths but the other was deserving!

Overwrote melodrama that's nonsensical

[jmbovan-47-160173 · 4/10 · 10 April 2024]

Heat details two families vacationing at one's new home in rural and somewhat isolated Australian outback. Plus, there's a brush fire that builds to to a more rampant forest fire.

Sounds good and intriguing? It begins that way in the first episode. A secret is revealed that is kept silent and potentially is dangerous. Then, more and more, and more secrets are unveiled. Everyone seems to have a secret or knows of a secret. And they keep escalating in terms of the intensity, culminating to a level of absurdity.

And that's what makes this miniseries ultimately fail. Each of the secrets ups the level of betrayal. And the last couple of secrets push the boundaries of that reality, keeping track with implausible elements one after the other. And that just makes this a muddled mess that wants to be dramatic, but barely leaves the real of a soap opera.

Eastenders Meets Australian Bush !!!

[pitabread-332-717370 · 3/10 · 22 July 2023]

The acting from the main characters is ok but not so good from the rest, Danny Dyer looks like he's walked out of the Queen vic straight into the Australian bush, playing exactly the same character.

The story is old and predictable and been done many times and done much better than this.

Matia Marks who plays the 17yr old daughter isn't too bad apart from looking 27 and not 17.

Some really good shows have come out of Australia lately but this isn't one of them as it's slipped back to their cut aways where the characters are either in slow motion, sitting thinking or hugging and a singer performing a horrible pointless ballad, this happens far too often and was very common in Australian shows in the past.

The fire scenes are also pretty poor and just don't look real, they look like what they really are which is little controlled fires dotted around the bush, the house fire doesn't look real also.

We watched every episode to give it a chance but on reflection we feel we wasted 4hrs of our lives and we where very disappointed.

Mick Carter's in Australia !!

[tqgpcw · 3/10 · 31 July 2023]

Danny Dyers Eastenders character Mick Carter must have washed up on Aussie shores when we all thought he had drowned (actually I don't watch EE but I had read about his characters demise) anyway, here he is in fire blighted Melbourne, large as life and twice as Cockney, except here he's allowed to eff and jeff a bit as it's post watershed.

Basically the premise of the story is that a couple of old mates and their families meet up every year, only this year all sorts of issues are brought to the table, presumably they've never had any inkling of any of these issues in previous years. Add in the threat of becoming toast in a bush fire, and it's a recipe for disaster.

Unfortunately, apart from the daughters boyfriend Jett, there isn't a likeable or relatable character amongst them, and it's hard to feel any sympathy for them.

This story drags on over 4 episodes, lots of angst, all accompanied by a typical Aussie drama soundtrack, and really hammy acting.

The ending left me quite incredulous, I've lived in Australia and I know the SES and the Police there are not that dim.

It's like a hybrid of Eastenders and Neighbours.

Watch it, if like me you've nothing else to do, you're suffering with a heavy cold, and it's raining (again), but if you've got a life, go and live it and leave Mick Carter to his watery grave.

Mostly trash

[boblafayette · 1/10 · 23 March 2024]

As I watched this I began to see the whole series -- particularly in the fourth episode-- deteriorate into modern day soap opera trash.

Sorry. To me it was nothing short of trash.

The first episode has two families having a holiday together and the second episode turns into mayhem and the third episode gets even worse and the fourth episode turns into trashy trash.

Not only is the writing bad but the use of English grammar even though it's Australian, is bad.

What starts out as mildly believable turns into fully unbelievable and as I wrote earlier, trash.

But I did watch all four episodes so I can write this.

Enjoyable drama down under

[wedlopkim · 8/10 · 13 April 2024]

I went into this with no expectations which is a good way to approach a channel 5 drama. I have to say it got me hooked and I happily bashed through this in one sitting (admittedly with a bottle of wine and cheese platter).

Its one of those disaster-is-coming shows and in this case a bushfire. Im not sure how accurate it would be in real like for all those people to get trapped but I'm not Australian so I'll go with it. Suffice to say all sorts of subplots begin to crossover, sometimes in a predictable way but there's also a really big creepy shock. The best episode is definitely the end and you know it's going to go badly for someone.

That's 3 hours I'll never get back!

[bransco-08596 · 1/10 · 5 February 2024]

Dear Lord, wot an absolute shocker.!!! Very poor lacting and I sometimes felt they were making the lines up as they went. Danny thinks the only part he can play is a tough, extremely moody boy from the East End. Maybe it's true.

It starts with Danny and his wife arriving to see their so called best friends they hadnt seen in a while. The wife doesn't even bother going outside with her husband to greet them, In fact, when they come into the house she continues to set the table and then casually goes over to greet them. The first few minutes kinda hinted wot you were in for and it went downhill from there. I thought they had travelled from London, as I see most other reviewers thort, but they were from Sydney. Oh dear, don't Waste your time.