Wild At Heart: Series 5 - Episode guide
Love is in the air at Leopard’s Den as Stephen Tompkinson, Dawn Steele, Hayley Mills and Cal Macaninch return to ITV1 for a fifth season of Wild At Heart.
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Back among the lions, giraffes and elephants, love is continuing to blossom for Danny Trevanion (Tompkinson) and fellow vet Alice Collins (Steele ) but will Danny have the courage to commit to her? Throughout the series the pair will face many challenges, not least the pressure of working together, and Alice must make some difficult decisions about her future at Leopard’s Den. Find out what happens in the next episode!
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Episode 1
Sunday 10th January 2010
Danny (Stephen Tompkinson) and Alice’s (Dawn Steele) project to re-habilitate a group of circus elephants has been a huge success but now they have too many elephants at Leopard’s Den and urgently need to move the circus herd to the National Park. There’s only one hitch – they need to go through Mara land which means talking to Vanessa (Mary-Anne Barlow) and Rowan (Cal Macaninch).
As the two reserves are still on bad terms, Danny and Alice are surprised when Rowan helpfully agrees but he has an ulterior motive – both reserves are shortlisted for a prize and Rowan wants Leopard’s Den distracted when the judges arrive. It’s a sad day for the family, particularly Alice's young daughter Charlotte (Megan Martell), when their elephant family chooses to leave with the circus herd. However the judges are really impressed with what they see of Leopard’s Den.
Caroline (Hayley Mills) and Du Plessis (Deon Stewardson) are finally getting married, but when Caroline’s old friend Gene (Nicholas Le Provost) arrives, it’s clear he’s up to no good. He encourages Du Plessis to spend time away from Caroline in an attempt to come between them. His plan nearly works when Du Plessis is dumped in the bush on his stag night and wakes up to discover he’s lost, late for his wedding and has no way to get home.
Meanwhile Rowan has hired a hot air balloon to wow the judges but when Du Plessis stumbles across it, he realises this could be the only way to get to his wedding on time – even if it means forfeiting the competition. Back home Caroline is beginning to worry that Gene is right and Du Plessis has jilted her. Will she wait around to find out…
Episode 2
Sunday 17th January 2010
When Danny (Stephen Tompkinson) hurts his back, he begins to have a crisis about his age. Danny and Alice (Dawn Steele) are surprised when Vanessa (Mary-Anne Barlow) comes to them for advice. Rowan (Cal Macaninch) has employed a hot-shot new vet called Lewis (James MacEwan) and between them they’ve come up with the idea of 'green hunting'. Danny is concerned that commerce and animals don’t mix; even if the only animals darted by hunters are those in need of treatment.However, Lewis is very modern in his practices and Alice can’t help being impressed with him.
Things go terribly wrong when a hunter incorrectly doses a white lioness, and Danny and Alice are called in to assist. Lewis doesn’t want their help but it becomes clear he’s inexperienced and out of his depth. When the lioness crashes, Danny must prove he's not out of date in a bid to save her life.
Caroline (Hayley Mills) is delighted at Du Plessis’s (Deon Stewardson) choice of luxury hotel for their honeymoon. However she becomes increasingly frustrated when she sees the manager looking down his nose at her new husband. It’s the final straw when he denies them entry to the restaurant. Caroline hatches a plan to get her revenge on the snooty hotelier and the honeymooners are brought closer together than ever. Rowan apologises to Danny and Alice for not listening to them and asks them to be Mara’s vets. Finally there’s a rapprochement between the two reserves.
Episode 3
Sunday 24th January 2010
Mara is hosting a beauty pageant and Rowan (Cal Macaninch) realises he needs all the publicity he can get. He buys a tiger from a zoo and convinces Alice (Dawn Steele) that he plans to rehabilitate it. Alice is enjoying working with her brother and even defends him to Danny (Stephen Tompkinson). Danny is wrapped up with his own work in the township and the two are at odds with both feeling their own project is more important – even though Danny is fast using up all the medical supplies in the hospital for his charity work.
When Alice discovers that Rowan is really intending to use the tiger for a photo shoot with the contestants she feels betrayed by her brother. Meanwhile, Danny realises he’s become neglectful of his responsibilities at the animal hospital when he’s not available to help a pregnant cow. Both Danny and Alice realise they’ve got their priorities wrong and must pull together to work things out.
Du Plessis (Deon Stewardson) and Fatani (Thapelo Mokoena) are more than happy to help with the beauty pageant and when Fatani meets one of the contestants, Buhle (Naima McLean), he’s instantly smitten. When the family discover she has a secret son, Cashile (Kagiso Legoadi), they must decide whether or not to help her. If Cashile is discovered it will ruin her chances in the competition. Caroline (Hayley Mills) worries about the effect Buhle’s lies are having on Cashile but Buhle needs the money to support them both and is determined to continue with the pageant. However Caroline’s words hit home and Buhle decides she would rather forfeit the competition than deny her son. Luckily Fatani steps in to save the day…
Episode 4
Sunday 31st January 2010
Danny (Stephen Tompkinson) and Alice (Dawn Steele) have been preparing a cheetah, Ngotsi for release into the wild but Danny’s mind isn’t on the job. He’s been pre-occupied with thoughts of buying a ring and proposing to Alice. Meanwhile a strange girl has turned up at Mara asking lots of questions about Alice. It's clear there’s trouble in store when the girl reveals she’s Olivia (Olivia Scott-Taylor), Danny’s step-daughter.
When Danny returns, he’s delighted to see Olivia but it’s immediately apparent that she’s got a big problem with Alice and the news that her pet cheetah, Jana, is dying is the final straw. Realising Olivia needs to spend some time with Danny, Alice makes herself scarce. She encourages Hannah (Camilla Waldman), Ngotsi’s owner, to come along to watch his release and it’s an emotional goodbye as this is the cheetah that Hannah’s dead husband hand-raised. Meanwhile Danny’s attempts at making Olivia feel at home are stymied when she finds the engagement ring.
Olivia thinks Danny has forgotten her mother and can’t forgive him for moving on. She steals one of Mara’s vehicles in a moment of rebellion, but is shocked to find the injured Ngotsi lying in the road and has to bring him back to Leopard’s Den for surgery. Hannah is devastated when she learns that Ngotsi is brain-dead and can’t bear the thought of allowing Danny to use one of his kidneys, even if it could save Jana’s life. Will Olivia be able to convince Hannah to help keep Jana, and the memory of her mother, alive? And will Danny get the answer he wants from Alice?
Episode 5
Sunday 7th February 2010
Danny (Stephen Tompkinson) and Alice (Dawn Steele) are taking a well deserved mini break but Olivia (Olivia Scott-Taylor) is upset to learn they’re leaving that day. Angry at missing out on a driving lesson, she decides to take the jeep out on her own. When she crashes it, none of the family believes her protests that it was an accident. Du Plessis (Deon Stewardson) makes Olivia ask Rowan (Cal Macaninch) and Vanessa (Mary-Anne Barlow) to lend Danny and Alice a jeep, which gives Rowan an idea. He sees an ideal opportunity to spend some romantic time with the oblivious Vanessa and decides that they’ll come along too. As they all leave, Du Plessis introduces Olivia to the concept of brat camp.
On the road, the group take a diversion and their vehicle gets damaged. There’s worse in store when they discover a terrible accident up ahead. The driver of a crashed truck is dead and Susan (Vanessa Cooke), a tourist, has severe injuries. There’s also a very angry lion which has escaped from its trailer in the accident. When the disorientated lion runs at Vanessa, Rowan heroically saves her showing himself in a new light. That night, Susan’s son Michael (Antony Coleman) decides to go for help and a worried Rowan goes with him, but when they try to take a shortcut, Rowan falls down a rocky incline and is knocked unconscious. When Michael returns alone and covered in blood, the group fear the worst for lost and injured Rowan. After Alice and Danny have searched in vain for him they decide to continue on for Susan’s sake. However, Alice can’t leave her brother and decides to go back alone to protect him.
Meanwhile, Du Plessis’ brat camp isn’t working well until he gets Olivia involved in the rescue of an orphaned baby leopard. Finally Olivia feels like she has a role at Leopard’s Den and Du Plessis is pleased to have formed a bond with her. However, when Danny and Alice arrive back, Olivia is immediately on the defensive with Alice. Realising that Olivia needs the leopard to help her feel at home, Alice offers her brother a deal; she’ll work at Mara if Olivia can have the leopard.
Episode 6
Sunday 14th February 2010
Alice (Dawn Steele) is enjoying her new job at Mara even though her animal census has revealed they have a lone male hyena that needs a pack. Du Plessis (Deon Stewardson) isn’t happy about Alice working for next door and although Danny (Stephen Tompkinson)realises her move there was for the best, it doesn’t stop him missing her. Danny thinks Alice needs help and gets Du Plessis to buy an unusual present for her – a female hyena. Alice is a bit annoyed at what she sees as Danny’s interference. Things go from bad to worse when the female hyena attacks the male. As they operate on the injured hyena, Danny can’t help taking over and the tension escalates to the point where Alice throws him out of her surgery.
Meanwhile, Alice discovers that Rowan (Cal Macaninch)and Vanessa (Mary-Anne Barlow) have been seeing each other in secret. Although Vanessa is enjoying keeping it under wraps, Rowan is becoming increasingly paranoid that she’s embarrassed by him. Rowan attempts to make things more romantic by insisting Vanessa accompanies him for sundowners in the bush with honeymooning guests, Roddy (James Alexander) and Bethany (Tiffany Jones). However, this backfires when a wildebeest charges the honeymooners. It’s a close escape not helped by the Roddy’s instinctive reaction to hide behind his new wife! Both couples leave the bush at odds and Rowan finally snaps and surprises Vanessa by ending their affair.
Du Plessis is horrified to discover the female hyena has a history of attacking other animals and even humans… and when Roddy, determined to make up for his earlier blunder, bravely tries to protect his wife from the agreesive hyena, he is attacked. When Bethany insists they put the hyena down, it’s the final straw for Alice. Danny realises the only way to save their relationship is to save the hyena. Despite all the odds, they manage to convince Bethany to back down when they discover the reason for the hyena’s aggression – she is pregnant and was only trying to defend her unborn pups. With the hyena reprieved, Danny assumes Alice will come back to Leopard’s Den where she belongs. This presumption is the final straw for Alice. She decides it’s over for good and the family are shocked as Alice and Charlotte move to Mara.
Episode 7
Sunday 21st February 2010
Danny’s (Stehen Tompkinson) continued estrangement from Alice (Dawn Steele) is really starting to take its toll. Over at Mara, Alice puts on a brave face as she meets Tom Cox (Eckard Rabe), the owner of a rare male black leopard. Rowan (Cal Macaninch)has organised a breeding programme with Mara’s female black leopard and there’s a lot of money riding on the outcome. Alice is called away to look at an injured wildebeest in the bush so when a ranger alerts Rowan to a problem with Cox’s leopard, Rowan calls Danny for help. On arrival, Danny diagnoses lungworm and is about to give the leopard more anaesthetic when Alice arrives. The atmosphere between them is tense and as a distracted Danny gives a second dose of anaesthetic, the leopard’s heart stops. Danny and Alice work frantically to revive him but it appears that Danny has caused the animal’s death.
Cox demands retribution and insists the Veterinary Institute are called in to investigate Danny’s malpractice. Danny takes full responsibility but when Alice tries to console him he insists this is his problem, and that their relationship was a mistake. No one at Leopard’s Den can believe that it was Danny’s fault, least of all Du Plessis (Deon Stewardson). When he hears that his old love rival, Cox, is involved, Du Plessis rallies his troops, Olivia (Olivia Scott-Taylor) and Fatani (Thapelo Mokoena), to help investigate.
Danny is devastated when he’s told by the Veterinary Institute that he’s unable to practice whilst the investigation is underway and Alice is shocked to see a sign outside the animal hospital declaring it closed for business. However, when Jana the leopard takes a turn for the worst, Danny feels compelled to operate but his gamble doesn’t pay off when he’s caught by the investigator from the Veterinary Institute.
Meanwhile a tip off from Fatani leads DuP and Olivia to Tom’s game reserve. When they show Alice fertility drugs that they’ve found in Tom’s rubbish, she confirms that combined with the anaesthetic these could have killed the leopard. Delighted, Du Plessis confronts Tom with the evidence but is dismayed to discover he was using the pills to treat his own impotence. All seems lost for Danny until Alice arrives determined to make another go of things with him and the couple are reunited. Everyone is elated until Danny receives more bad news;the blood tests revealed the leopard was given the wrong drug. Danny is devastated to discover that he’s being struck off.
Episode 8
Sunday 28th February 2010
Caroline (Hayley Mills) returns to find that all is not well at Leopard’s Den. Danny (Stephen Tompkinson) has been putting a brave face on his ban from practising as a vet but his attempts at helping out around the house are getting on everyone’s nerves and Alice (Dawn Steele) is finding his back-seat vetting especially hard. When Rowan (Cal Macaninch) offers to help Danny with some young offenders who are staying, Alice is touched at her brother’s support. It’s immediately apparent that the youngsters are going to be a handful, particularly when their ringleader, Thabo (Atandwa Kani), takes a shine to Olivia (Olivia Scott-Taylor). However we discover that Rowan is motivated by his guilt. Rowan was responsible for giving the leopard the drug that killed it but he has let Danny take the blame for his crime.
Vanessa (Mary-Anne Barlow) is worried about her elephants and when Alice discovers the problem is bacterial, they realise they must find the source of the infection. Meanwhile Danny is doing well with the youngsters. They’re really impressed when they get up close to lions but Thabo remains stubbornly aloof. They come across a scene of carnage – a dead mother jackal and pups – and, against Danny’s advice, Thabo goes off in search of the surviving pup. He gets dangerously close to the lions and Danny has to fire a warning shot but Thabo succeeds in the rescue, earning Olivia’s admiration in the process. However, with Danny unable to practice they have to wait for Alice to arrive to operate on the injured pup. Seeing an animal suffering and not being able to help is very difficult for Danny but fortunately, Alice comes back in time to save it. Alice tries to console Danny but he admits he’s made a decision. He can’t stay at Leopard’s Den if he can’t practise as a vet.
Everyone is devastated at Danny’s decision, particularly the guilt stricken Rowan. One of the Mara rangers, Baruti (Mothusi Magano), knows Rowan’s secret and is blackmailing him. Rowan is forced to pay him off to get rid of him. DuP (Deon Stewardson) realises that Danny has to feel needed in order to want to stay at Leopard’s Den, so he comes up with a plan to make Danny feel invaluable. However, Danny sees through DuP’s ruse when they immediately find the source of the elephants’ infection. Danny finds a new respect for Thabo when they all build a fence around the contaminated watering hole. Believing his scheme to be a success, DuP wrongly assumes Danny has decided to stay. Meanwhile the net is closing in on Rowan as Vanessa discovers a package and a message from Baruti. With the secret out to Vanessa, Rowan has no option but to confess to Danny and Alice...
Episode 9
Sunday 7th March 2010
Danny (Stephen Tompkinson) is delighted to have his veterinary license back again and being back at work is helping to distract him from the impending anniversary of Sarah’s death. Olivia (Olivia Scott-Taylor) and Caroline (Hayley Mills) are finding it particularly hard to bear and when Du Plessis (Deon Stewardson) realises that he forgot the date he decides to help Olivia remember her mother by taking her to Sarah’s favourite spot. They are interrupted on their journey by a bull elephant which begins to follow them. Du Plessis recognises the elephant as Sbari, who he hand raised as a child. However the trip backfires when they discover the shelter at the lookout point is ruined. Du Plessis feels guilty for upsetting Olivia and when she goes to get water, he has a funny turn and collapses. When Olivia revives Du Plessis, he sees how upset she is at his collapse and so he lies that the elephant knocked him over.
On Caroline’s insistence, Du Plessis sees a doctor who tells him his heart condition may have deteriorated but Du Plessis lies to the family that everything is fine, because he wants to repair the shelter for Caroline and Olivia. However when he collapses in the street, it’s clear he’s going to need some help if he’s to achieve his mission. Having been ostracised by everyone he knows and loves, Rowan (Cal Macaninch) spots an opportunity to ingratiate himself with the family by helping Du Plessis.
Meanwhile, Danny and Alice (Dawn Steele) have gone to do some routine cattle vaccinations but the farmer, Van Heerden (David James), won’t allow Danny near his valuable livestock because he was struck off. Danny realises his reputation has been severely damaged. Determined to prove that Danny is a good vet, he and Alice return to the farm when they learn of a lion problem there. Van Heerden is unhappy but has no choice but to let them do their jobs. They trap one lion in a cage and see another approaching. However when Danny spots that the second lion injured, and goes to dart it, Van Heerden shoots the lion. Danny manages to extract the bullet but his elation is short-lived when the other, supposedly healthy lion, dies. Danny and Alice investigate and discover that Van Heerden had been poisoning the lions. They pump the stomach of the surviving lion and are able to save him.
When Sbari arrives at the house, Du Plessis thinks there must be something wrong with him, and finally works out that the old elephant has toothache. They remove the offending tooth and everyone is pleased as Sbari heads off into the bush. Later, Du Plessis surveys the completed viewpoint with pride but suddenly he suffers a heart attack and falls out of sight. Worried about Du Plessis’s health, Rowan takes Caroline and Olivia to Sarah’s spot, now transformed after Du Plessis’ efforts. They are horrified to discover the collapsed Du Plessis. Rowan heroically rescues Du Plessis but badly injures himself in the process. Fortunately Sbari is on hand to carry Du Plessis back to Leopard’s Den. As Du Plessis is taken off by ambulance he urges the family to forgive Rowan.
Episode 10
Sunday 14th March 2010
In the final epiosde, Du Plessis (Deon Stewardson) is restless after his heart surgery but the family insist he needs to relax. Meanwhile Danny (Stephen Tompkinson) and Alice (Dawn Steele) are happy to have closed down a zoo down that has been mistreating animals. Vanessa (Mary-Anne Barlow) had agreed that she would take all the indigenous animals, including a rare Aardwolf but Danny and Alice are shocked when she confesses that Mara can no longer have them. They discover this change of heart is down to Vanessa’s father, who is now part owner of Mara and refuses to take in the charity cases. However it looks like Caroline(Hayley Mills) might have the ideal solution when she reveals she’s been planning for her and DuP’s retirement and is in the process of buying land from Mr Ekotto, a local farmer, so why not send the animals there too? DuP isn’t wholly convinced of this plan but when Olivia (Olivia Scott-Taylor) assumes it’s because he’s not ready to retire he has to put her straight. He’s given all their savings to his son, Kirk. They can’t afford to buy the land but he can’t tell Caroline!
Du Plessis decides to pawn some old jewellery to give a deposit to Ekotto. However, his plan goes awry when Danny, deciding it’s finally time to marry Alice, asks for the engagement ring back and Du Plessis realises it’s accidentally been pawned! Before he has a chance to get it back, he discovers that Vanessa’s father has bought Ekotto’s land and is planning to turn it into a golf course – even though Du Plessis lied to Caroline that he’s bought it. Needing to buy some time, he asks Olivia to stall the engagement so Olivia is forced to lie that she lost the ring, to Danny’s dismay. Meanwhile, Fatani (Thapelo Mokoena) is delighted that Buhle (Naima McLean) is pregnant and, responding to her concerns that he’s not mature enough to be a dad, he proposes in front of all the family. To Du Plessis’s horror, Danny notices it’s his engagement ring and when Fatani, to Buhle’s chagrin, admits he bought it from the pawn shop Du Plessis is finally forced to come clean. The family are shocked at Du Plessis’ web of lies.
Olivia makes Danny see how useless Du Plessis has felt after his heart attack. Realising he’s been too hard on his friend, Danny gives him the pep talk he needs and an emboldened Du Plessis turns to Caroline with a new idea to find a home for the Aardwolf and other animals. Du Plessis and Caroline release the Aardwolf on Ekotto’s land and convince Nature Conservation to grant a protection order on this rare animal’s habitat. Their scheme is a success and Vanessa, finally realising it’s time to stand up to her dad, tells him she won’t turn their land into a golf course. As the family release the zoo animals into their new home, Danny surprises Alice by proposing to her, with Olivia’s blessing. Will Alice be the next Mrs Trevanion?
