ITV reveal more details on Wild at Heart’s seventh series

Wild at Heart returns to ITV in the new year and today the network revealed a little more of what viewers can expect in the next series of the popular drama.

The new series will open just a few weeks after Danny, Alice, Caroline and Du Plessis have lost Leopard’s Den. The mining company’s work has stalled following the corruption scandal Danny and Dup unearthed last series, and the family aren’t sure if they’ve lost their home forever. With the women back home in the UK, Danny and Dup set out to find a new place for everyone to live.  It’s a fresh start for them, but will they find somewhere suitable for Danny and Alice to re-establish their veterinary practice and game reserve?

Equally, emotions are still running high as unscrupulous mining boss Peeters played by David Butler continues to create problems for the family.  Significantly, Dup takes a decision which will rock the foundations of their relationship and Danny is put in the predicament of deciding whether he can support his friend and long-term business partner or whether they will have to go their separate ways.  The repercussions of this situation will be lead to emotional turmoil in the life of Dup, Caroline and Danny.

In the first episode of the seventh series the drama continues with the Wild at Heart regulars split across continents. Caroline, Liv and a heavily pregnant Alice are in the UK, while Danny and Du Plessis have remained in South Africa, trying to raise enough money to buy a new reserve and make a fresh start following the loss of Leopard’s Den at the end of series six.

Times are hard however, and when we first join Danny and Du Plessis they are working at the Big Five Animal Park in less than ideal circumstances. Du Plessis works in the gift shop whilst Danny works as a jobbing vet. However Danny finds it difficult to get on with his boss, Ed Lynch, as the two of them constantly clash over veterinary decisions, particularly over an elephant that keeps trying to escape.

To add to the pressure that Danny is under, Alice arrives without any warning. He and Du Plessis have let her believe that they are actually running the Big Five themselves, so she is shocked when Ed reveals that he is in fact the boss.

Meanwhile Fatani receives some terrible news from the UK. Alice’s brother, Rowan, has been in a car accident and is in intensive care. Alice decides to return immediately and Danny insists on accompanying her. However Du Plessis is certain that his friend is fleeing the country because he murdered Peeters.

Series regulars Stephen Tompkinson, Dawn Steele, Hayley Mills and Deon Stewardson will be joined by new arrivals Robert Bathurst and Jill Halfpenny. Also returning to the show is Lucy–Jo Hudson who reprises her role as Danny’s eldest daughter, Rosie Trevanion.

Jill Halfpenny joins the cast towards the end of the series intent to shake things up in Leopard’s Den as Ed Lynch’s feisty ex-Wife Fiona. A lost and lonely character we quickly discover that she’s the reason her husband, Ed is as sour, grumpy and emotionally in denial as he is! Fiona is a tremendous flirt and she’s also used to getting her own way, she left Ed for a younger model (which is something he’s unable to forgive her for) but now she’s intent on winning Ed back.

Jill commented: “I am absolutely thrilled to be joining the cast of Wild at Heart in Africa. Fiona Lynch is certainly a fun and feisty character and will no doubt cause quite a few headaches for Ed and Danny, I can’t wait!”

Created by Ashley Pharoah and produced by Company Pictures, the Wild At Heart production team began filming 10 new episodes of the family drama in across six months on location at Glen Afric on the borders of Gauteng Province and North West Province in South Africa with filming beginning back in August for transmission on ITV in 2012.