Stags (TV series)

This series was commissioned by Sebastian Cardwell, Deputy Chief Content Officer, UK, Paramount. Eleven Film produced it, with Carissa Hope Lynch, Joel Wilson, Olivia Trench, and Jamie Campbell serving as executive producers, and Farah Abushwesha serving as producer.^[2]

Casting was undertaken by Daniel Edwards Casting and was announced in November 2023, consisting of Nico Mirallegro, Charlie Cooper, Asim Chaudhry, Corin Silva, Sophie Lenglinger, Paul Forman, Jojo Macari, Cavan Clerkin, Paulina Galvez and Oscar Foronda.

Filming began in November 2023 on location in Tenerife.^[4]

Episodes 1 and 2 were released on Paramount+ on 15 August 2024, and one episode a week will be released each Thursday following the initial premiere.

The series has received generally positive reviews. Lucy Mangan, reviewing for The Guardian, described the series as "the exhilarating, gorgeous tale of eight idiots" in which a "stellar comic cast beautifully play this chronicle of a pre-wedding South American week of debauchery gone very, very wrong". She awarded the series four stars.^[5] Also for The Guardian, Barbara Ellen described the series as a "fast-moving, dark-hearted comedy drama", drawing comparisons to The Hangover and White Lines.^[6]

Jon O'Brien from Radio Times said "Stags certainly isn’t your average prison drama" and that director David Kerr "handles the balance of crime and comedy well, ratcheting up the tension one minute and then puncturing it with a macabre quip". However O'Brien added that Stags "wastes its intriguing concept on a bunch of individuals so unlikeable and selfish you start to sympathise with their oppressors", ultimately awarding it three stars.^[7]

Commenting on the first episode, Fiona Sturges from Financial Times said that "we don’t yet know enough about these hapless Brits to root for them", describing it as "frenetic". Sturges noted that "while there is the occasional good line, the comedy is muffled by the unpleasantness of their predicament". Ultimately they awarded two stars and added that "there is time, of course, for Stags to find its feet, but so far the vibe is a high-speed montage of every bachelor party movie ever made".^[8]

Writing for Air Mail, Jack Sullivan said that "the comedy — and pandemonium — grows" throughout Episode 1. Sullivan added that if viewers were looking for "hyperactive pacing and the thrills of Netflix’s Sex Education" then they should "tune in".^[9]