‘Hooten and the Lady’ finale review: Episode 8 ended the season on a perfect note

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Wrapping up in style, with warm sunshine and sandy beaches, the series finale concerned the fate of some long lost Caribbean booty, namely a pistol and emerald ring belonging to the infamous pirate privateer Captain Morgan (yes, like the rum).

Although Hooten had struck out on his own, leaving Lady Alex to her impending marriage, he made the fatal flaw of using the British Museum’s credit card to book his flight and the pair reunited on Old Providence Island.

A few moments back in London reminded us of what she might be running from – Lady Tabitha (Jane Seymour) was in the full flow of organising the ceremony and, in her daughter’s absence, turned her attentions on the groom insisting that Edward (Jonathan Bailey) put his foot down.

Hooten And The Lady

Meanwhile in paradise, our heroes promptly fell out as banter escalated into a battle of wits and the search for treasure became a race. When Alex beat him to the other half of the map which drew him to the island, Hooten ended up surveying the coastline while parascending and fighting through the landscape.

Alex found a more comfortable option, sourcing some local knowledge. Coconut Tours’ Julian, played by Michael Obiora (Hotel Babylon, Doctor Who’s ‘Blink’) was hilarious and it was a shame he was not featured further. He could have been the vicar too!

As well as focussing on the hunt for Morgan’s treasure, series co-creator Tony Jordan’s story drew the wedding saga to a close.

Far from returning to London and disrupting the event as we expected, with Hooten bursting in on a moped or some such, his choices were far more sensitive; Edward’s timely arrival and suggestion of an intimate beach wedding, forsaking all the hoopla, helped us to warm to his character (we had secretly been rooting for him to turn out bad) and actually made us feel a little sorry for him.

Hooten And The Lady

Across the series, while the stories have been occasionally daft but never less than entertaining, the interplay between Michael Landes’ roguish, unpredictable Hooten and Ophelia Lovibond’s bright and principled Alex has always sparkled.

This was never truer than in the scene of her pre-ceremony jitters; with his family issues put to bed, it was heart-breaking to see Hooten propel Alex towards Edward with a flattering pep-talk and then sit in contemplation of what he had lost on the beach.

And so Hooten and the Lady ended on a perfect note, imperilled on the next adventure with Alex’s nuptials not halting the globe-trotting antics, if perhaps making them a little more surreptitious behind the scenes of married life.

We very much hope that a second season will be forthcoming, as there is precious little out there ticking the boxes of family viewing, action and adventure requirement these days – spinning tall tales with a healthy dose of comedy and without an over-reliance on violence or gore… and frankly, our world geography is coming on leaps and bounds too!

Airs at 9pm on Friday 4 November 2016 on Sky1.

Buy the Season 1 box set on Amazon here.

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