Lost Boys & Fairies

By the end of the first episode, we were rooting hard for Andy, Gabriel and Jake to become a strong family unit, which is certainly a product of the show’s strong performances and inventive storytelling.

This is a drama which is tender, uplifting and candid without being slushy.

Don’t let the whimsical title of the series fool you: this is meaty, experimental and deeply moving television.

It has a huge heart and a clear eye on melodrama: no episode goes without a musical number. It is a lot of things, all at once, and mostly, it holds it all together with panache.

It might not achieve all that it sets out to, but Lost Boys and Fairies is a solid, well-meaning, and ultimately powerful miniseries that serves as both an ode to the queer community and a love letter to the ties that bind us and make us thrive as humans.

It’s never worthy or dull. The most powerful scene finds the couple at an excruciating open day in which prospective adopters compete for potential matches. .... What is less so is the gratuitous swing of an axe that concludes the middle episode of three, yanking the plot in a random new direction. The final episode is certainly moving.

There’s such a winning charisma at play in Lost Boys and Fairies – and such a fine central performance – that it’s tempting to forgive these moments when the visual experimentation of the show is undermined by its narrative triteness. James has crafted a show that is a gut punch – albeit a deliberate, rather than instinctive one.