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''Breeders'' is a
dark comedy
Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discus ...
television series created by
Martin Freeman
Martin John Christopher Freeman (born 8 September 1971) is an English actor. Among other accolades, he has won an Emmy Award, a BAFTA Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award, and has been nominated for a Golden Globe Award.
Freeman's most no ...
,
Chris Addison
Christopher David Addison (born 5 November 1971) is a British comedian, writer, actor, and director. He is perhaps best known for his role as a regular panellist on ''Mock the Week''. He is also known for his lecture-style comedy shows, two of ...
and
Simon Blackwell
Simon John Blackwell (born 27 May 1966) is an English comedy writer and producer. He is best known for his work on ''The Thick of It'', '' In The Loop'' and ''Veep'', and for his collaborations with Jesse Armstrong and Sam Bain on ''Peep Show'', ...
. The series follows two parents who struggle with parenthood and is partially based on Freeman's own experiences. Freeman plays one of the two leads in the series.
The series premiered on March 2, 2020, on the American cable network
FX, and on the British network
Sky One
Sky One was a British pay television channel operated and owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). Originally launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, it was Europe's first satellite and non-terrestrial channel. From 31 July 1989, ...
on March 12, 2020. On May 18, 2020, the series was renewed for a second season which premiered on March 22, 2021. On May 27, 2021, the series was renewed for a third season which premiered on May 9, 2022. On July 19, 2022, the series was renewed for a fourth season.
Cast
Main
*
Martin Freeman
Martin John Christopher Freeman (born 8 September 1971) is an English actor. Among other accolades, he has won an Emmy Award, a BAFTA Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award, and has been nominated for a Golden Globe Award.
Freeman's most no ...
as Paul Worsley, a father of two and Ally's partner
*
Daisy Haggard
Celia Daisy Morna Haggard (born 1978) is a British actress and writer. She is known for her roles in the BBC sitcoms ''Uncle'' and ''Episodes''. Haggard stars in BBC Three’s comedy-drama, '' Back to Life'', which she also created and co-wrot ...
as Ally Grant, a mother of two and Paul's partner
Recurring
*
Michael McKean
Michael John McKean (; born October 17, 1947) is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, composer, singer, and musician known for various roles in film and television such as Lenny Kosnowski in '' Laverne & Shirley'', David St. Hubbins in '' ...
as Michael (season 1), Ally's estranged father
*
Stella Gonet
Stella Gonet (born 8 May 1960) is a Scottish theatre, film and television actress. She is known for her roles in the BBC dramas '' The House of Eliott'' (1991–94) and ''Holby City'' (2007–09). Her stage credits include playing Ophelia in t ...
as Leah, Ally's mother
* Joanna Bacon as Jackie, Paul's mother
*
Alun Armstrong
Alan Armstrong, known professionally as Alun Armstrong, is an English actor. He grew up in County Durham in North East England, and first became interested in acting through Shakespeare productions at his grammar school. Since his career began ...
as Jim, Paul's father
*
Patrick Baladi
Patrick Bashir Baladi (born 25 December 1971) is an English actor and musician. He is best known for playing Neil Godwin in the BBC sitcom ''The Office'', Michael Jackson in the Sky 1 drama '' Stella'' and Stephen Holmes in the ITV thriller ' ...
as Darren, Paul and Ally's friend
*
Tim Steed as Carl, Paul and Ally's next-door neighbour
* George Wakeman (season 1) and Alex Eastwood (season 2-present) as Luke, Paul and Ally's son
* Jayda Eyles (season 1) and Eve Prenelle (season 2-present) as Ava, Paul and Ally's daughter
Episodes
Season 1 (2020)
Season 2 (2021)
Season 3 (2022)
Production
Development
On March 7, 2018, it was announced that Avalon Television was developing a comedy series created by Martin Freeman. The series was originally a co-production between the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
and
FX, similar to the drama series ''
Taboo
A taboo or tabu is a social group's ban, prohibition, or avoidance of something (usually an utterance or behavior) based on the group's sense that it is excessively repulsive, sacred, or allowed only for certain persons.''Encyclopædia Britannica ...
''.
A pilot was already filmed at the time of the announcement. On October 14, 2018, it was announced that FX and
Sky
The sky is an unobstructed view upward from the surface of the Earth. It includes the atmosphere and outer space. It may also be considered a place between the ground and outer space, thus distinct from outer space.
In the field of astronomy, ...
(the latter replacing the BBC) had commissioned the series with ten half-hour episodes, with a series debut in 2020. On January 20, 2020, FX announced that the series would premiere on March 2, 2020.
On May 18, 2020, the series was renewed for a second season which premiered on March 22, 2021.
On May 27, 2021, the series was renewed for a third season.
On July 19, 2022, the series was renewed for a fourth season.
Casting
Alongside the series announcement, it was announced that Freeman would star in the series. Furthermore,
Daisy Haggard
Celia Daisy Morna Haggard (born 1978) is a British actress and writer. She is known for her roles in the BBC sitcoms ''Uncle'' and ''Episodes''. Haggard stars in BBC Three’s comedy-drama, '' Back to Life'', which she also created and co-wrot ...
and
Michael Gambon
Sir Michael John Gambon (; born 19 October 1940) is an Irish-English actor. Regarded as one of Ireland and Britain's most distinguished actors, he is known for his work on stage and screen. Gambon started his acting career with Laurence Olivi ...
were also cast in the series.
However, on April 21, 2019, it was reported that Gambon left the series as he was having trouble memorising his lines due to memory loss issues.
Filming
Filming for the second season had been delayed by sixteen weeks due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
. Following the delay, filming for the second season began on September 1, 2020, in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
, and concluded production on December 18, 2020. Season 3 began filming in November 2021 and concluded filming in March 2022.
Release
The series premiered on March 2, 2020, on FX in the United States and Canada. The series premiere coincided with the launch of
FX on Hulu
FX Networks, LLC, is a company consisting of a network of cable channels plus a production company and a subsidiary of the Disney General Entertainment Content segment of The Walt Disney Company. Originally a part of 21st Century Fox, the comp ...
and therefore the series became the first FX series with episodes available on Hulu by the next day. In Bulgaria and Poland, the series airs on
HBO Europe
HBO Europe is a premium television group of channels by HBO. It is available as a group of film channels and streaming television services in Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia, Montenegr ...
. The series was formerly broadcast in Australia on
Foxtel
Foxtel is an Australian pay television company—operating in cable television, direct broadcast satellite television, and IPTV streaming services. It was formed in April 2018, superseding an earlier company from 1995. The service was establi ...
, via its broadcast network
FOX One and on demand services until May 2022. It comes as Disney is looking forward to reclaiming its FX and 20th Television titles in order to stream them exclusively on the company's service:
Disney+
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment
Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and interest of an audience or gives pleasure and deligh ...
. ''Breeders'' Moved to Disney+ on June 1, 2022. Soon after ''Breeders'' Departed Foxtel and its Service, Season 3 moved to streaming on June 15, 2022, exclusively on Disney+ as a Star Original with new episodes airing on a weekly basis.
Reception
Critical response
On the review aggregation website
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, the series holds a 91% approval rating with the website's critics consensus reading, "A provocative addition to the growing slate of shows about parents behaving badly, ''Breeders'' take on the realities of child-rearing are as hilarious as they are cringe-inducing."
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, which uses a weighted average, has assigned the series a score of 65 out of 100 based on 13 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews."
Accolades
References
External links
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{{Sky One
2020 American television series debuts
2020 British television series debuts
2020s American comedy television series
2020s British comedy television series
English-language television shows
FX Networks original programming
Sky UK original programming
Television series about families
Television series by 20th Century Fox Television
Parenting television series