''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 not ...

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. 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

as Paul Worsley, a father of two and Ally's partner * Daisy Haggard 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 ''T ...

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 th ...

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 bega ...

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 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 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. 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 major s ...

, 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 compan ...

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. 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+ Disney+ is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned and operated by the Media and Entertainment Distribution division of The Walt Disney Company. The service primarily distributes films and television se ...

. ''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 aggregator, 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 ...

, 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 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 average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc D ...

, 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

* * {{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