Oooh hunted is back!

[NewBallsPlease00]

Just seen the trailer
Cue weeks of theoretical hiding locations pros and cons 😳😂

I loved this last year and have planned what I would do in great detail.

But it's thrown me with them all having to start off in Birmingham with only a 30 min head start. It's a bit shit really because you will struggle to throw them off. They look at cctv and they will see where people go. So you get in a car and they get the reg plate and can track it via cameras. Try and run/bike and they're tracking you on camera. Get on a train and they see which train you get on.

Surely the basic rules are that you don't go an area where you have any links to, you dump your phone and you don't email plans to yourself?

I thought it seemed less contrived in the original series where they all started at home.

Plus unless they're familiar with Birmingham, surely it's harder to get away? Less contacts to give you that first lift, less local knowledge of routes out of the area, less knowledge of cycle paths / canels etc.....

Obviously they don't want to stay near the start point, but for that initial getaway, it would be much easier for me to get muddled and going round in circles in Birmingham than it would be for me to get lost in a city near my home.

And how come the hunters didn't just walk straight over to the table in the Indian restaurant and go "aha, got you!"

I don't think the hunters were 100% sure which blokes they were.

Not liking this new series so far. It just seems so easy to hunt them down.

Not that they've caught anyone yet - but can't help feeling they will catch a few next time.

Was it for a longer time last series? Can't remember. 28 days seems short.

I think it was six weeks last time.

Reboot I agree that the producers have made it too easy for the hunters. Everyone starting in one location meant they just tracked them on CCTV to whichever form of transport they chose, then tracked license plates. The guy on the bike was just lucky that he took a wrong turn!

I don't think the hunters were 100% sure which blokes they were.

I was thinking about this. They were being filmed eating their curry in the restaurant. There was footage shown that must have been filmed by someone at or next to the table, filming the hunters at the door. Wouldn't the presence of a cameraman have been a major clue that they probably had the right blokes?

I loved the last series, this one is different, they should have stayed with the other format, get a phone call and go in thirty minutes, the guy who met up with his kid was daft, was he the army guy, surely he was well used to being away from family so would have coped with missing a birthday, and the chap on the bike got lucky.

Remember last series where one of the girls decided to go home and visit her son, she ended up winning it with her runaway partner and two others from what I remember, but they had a falling out and had gone they're separate ways during the hunt, wonder are they still friends.

I understood from the opening sequence that this year they HAVE to rely on friends and family as well, i.e. they can't just go no contact, presumably to make it easier for the hunters, or did I mishear?

Maybe the camera men have discreet/covert body cams????

I think the show said they were allowed to use family/friends to arrange an initial get away. Not that they had to.

ellen I would love to see a "where are they now" about last year's contestants - I'm so nosy

I think looking at some of the camera work, it has to be body cams the use, at least some of the time. I was puzzled though, in the restaurant there were more than four people at the table (the two army guys, their two friends, and another two people). Now one of them would have been one of the camera people (as I think each hunted person has a camera person, so that if they split up they are still filmed), but one of the camera people looked to be at the next table, as they were able to film all six people at the table.

What I really need is a "making of" programme, so we can see how the technicalities are worked out. We do see some of that in the hunters office, but not how they manage the hunteds. There must be some production people following as well to provide motorbikes/bikes/change of clothes for the camera people, no?

I agree MyVisions, I think they underestimate how interesting it would be to see what the limitations are. I don't mind the guy at the headquarters making Dirty Harry faces at the camera but what originally appealed about this was both the gameshow aspect and the peril, but also the complications and the bits that obviously didn't work. It would be nice to know more about why they decided to change the format as well.

AlbusPercival
I understood from the opening sequence that this year they HAVE to rely on friends and family as well, i.e. they can't just go no contact, presumably to make it easier for the hunters, or did I mishear?

That's right, according to this:
www.channel4.com/programmes/hunted/articles/all/series-2-guide/4836

I suppose the introduction of a cash prize has inevitably meant they've made conditions much more difficult. (I wonder if this might encourage more pairs to split up later on in the process to increase their chances - if still allowed.)

I'm thinking there might be some additional rules that they don't disclose (e.g. are contestants required to use devices to research and make plans beforehand, that they then have to leave at home?).

I loved the calmness of the ex soldiers in the restaurant. In the first series, I think one pair were unintentially caught at a caravan park on the basis of their suspicious behaviour when they clocked the hunters (who happened to be searching for another pair).

Gutted for the army guys.

Yes that was a shame for them, as they really wanted to go the distance. I'm surprised by all the planning that they did via facebook msg etc, considering they probably have to sign something to give permission to hand over laptops etc!

I'm not loving it as much this series, it seems really contrived.... You have the hunters saying, oh bet they do X and lo and behold, pan to fugitives and that's what they are doing.
Still watching though.

Totally agree.

One of the army blokes said "we're going to up our game"

And then it cut to MI5 Central and someone in the office said "we're also going to up our game"

If was like the army guys camera man was feeding stuff back to the office.

I also don't think using drones and dogs is cricket.

I really like the concept of this, but I'm struggling to believe it's all real. There's been a few moments where it's seemed like a set up. When the forces guys left the restaurant in a van the hunters just automatically knew they were in there, without checking the whole restaurant, unless they did off camera. When Michaela got into the hunters' car after jumping in the canal she didn't look very wet. I hope it isn't set up but I am suspicious.

I am on fugitives side. I hate the hunters they are so smug.

Kits I think they all had a nice lunch together while she dried off, then filmed them getting into the van. It's all a bit contrived this year, with so much time spent seeing the Hunters posturing for the camera. What is the media campaign that they were talking about? I didn't see anything (presuming they filmed in Spring) and I live 10 mins from the M6, on the way to the Lakes - often a popular choice for the fugitives!

I'm never sure what day it is either. At the beginning it said day 8, but one of the girls said something about being on the run for 14 days?

The Scottish woman made me laugh "oh we don't grass someone up in my country"....

Obviously I'm still watching, despite my misgivings I'm committed now

This year is shit compared to last year. They seem to either be getting caught quite easily or they have massively squashed weeks into two programmes.

Definitely think there are some set up scenes. Annoying

I think the two girls have got the right idea and it might be a good idea to start heading south again to throw them off. I'm seriously impressed they managed to get up to the Cairngorms though!