''Fleabag'' is a British

comedy-drama Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

television series created and written by

Phoebe Waller-Bridge Phoebe Mary Waller-Bridge (born 14 July 1985) is an English actress and screenwriter. She is best known as the creator, head writer, and star of the BBC sitcom ''Fleabag'' (2016–2019), which was based on her one-woman show of the same name. ...

, based on her

one-woman show A solo performance, sometimes referred to as a one-man show or one-woman show, features a single person telling a story for an audience, typically for the purpose of entertainment. This type of performance comes in many varieties, including auto ...

first performed in 2013 at the

Edinburgh Fringe Festival The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...

. It was originally produced by

Two Brothers Pictures Two Brothers Pictures is a London-based British television production company founded in 2014 by brothers, Harry Williams and Jack Williams. The company launched with the BBC One series'' The Missing''. The show was nominated for 2 Golden Glob ...

for digital channel

BBC Three BBC Three is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes targeting 16 to 34-year-olds, covering all genres including animation, comedy, curre ...

in a co-production agreement with

Amazon Studios Amazon Studios is an American television and film producer and distributor that is a subsidiary of Amazon. It specializes in developing television series and distributing and producing films. It was started in late 2010. Content is distributed th ...

. Waller-Bridge stars as the title character, a free-spirited but angry and confused young woman in London.

Sian Clifford Sian Clifford (born 7 April 1982) is an English actress. She is best known for playing Claire, the older sister of the titular character in the BBC comedy-drama series ''Fleabag'' (2016–2019) and also portrayed Martha Crawley in the ITV/Amazo ...

stars as Fleabag's sister Claire, while Andrew Scott joined the cast in the second series as 'Hot Priest'. The protagonist frequently breaks the

fourth wall The fourth wall is a performance convention in which an invisible, imaginary wall separates actors from the audience. While the audience can see through this ''wall'', the convention assumes the actors act as if they cannot. From the 16th cen ...

to provide exposition, internal monologues, and a running commentary to the audience. The show premiered on 21 July 2016 and concluded its second and final series on 8 April 2019. It received widespread acclaim from critics, particularly for its writing, acting, and the uniqueness and personality of the title character. Waller-Bridge won the British Academy Television Award for Best Female Comedy Performance for the first series. The second series received 11

Primetime Emmy Award The Primetime Emmy Awards, or Primetime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the Primetime ...

nominations and won six, with Waller-Bridge earning Outstanding Comedy Series, Outstanding Lead Actress, and Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series; additional acting nominations were received by Clifford,

Olivia Colman Sarah Caroline Sinclair ( Colman; born 30 January 1974), known professionally as Olivia Colman, is an English actress. Known for her comedic and dramatic roles in film and television, she has received various accolades, including an Academy A ...

, and guest stars

Fiona Shaw Fiona Shaw (born Fiona Mary Wilson; 10 July 1958) is an Irish film and theatre actress. She is known for her roles as Petunia Dursley in the ''Harry Potter'' film series (2001–2010), Marnie Stonebrook in the fourth season of the HBO serie ...

and

Kristin Scott Thomas Dame Kristin Ann Scott Thomas (born 24 May 1960) is a British actress who also holds French citizenship. A five-time British Academy Film Awards, BAFTA Award and Laurence Olivier Award, Olivier Award nominee, she won the BAFTA Award for Best ...

. The series received the

Golden Globe Award The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of t ...

for Best Television Series and Best Actress for Waller-Bridge, and a nomination for Scott.

Background

The show is adapted from Waller-Bridge's 2013

Edinburgh Festival Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...

one-woman play of the same name which won a Fringe First Award. The initial idea of the character of Fleabag came from a challenge by a friend, where Waller-Bridge was given the task of creating a sketch for a 10-minute section in a stand-up storytelling night.

Cast and characters

Main

as Fleabag (although never named in the script) *

as Claire, Fleabag's sister with whom she shares an uneasy relationship * Andrew Scott as the priest, with whom Fleabag falls in love (series 2)

Supporting

as Fleabag and Claire's godmother, who began a relationship with their father not long after their mother's death and eventually becomes their stepmother * Bill Paterson as father of Fleabag and Claire *

Brett Gelman Brett Clifford Gelman (born October 6, 1976) is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for his role as Murray Bauman in Netflix's horror-supernatural series '' Stranger Things'' and as Martin on the BBC comedy ''Fleabag''. Gelman bega ...

as Martin, Claire's husband *

Hugh Skinner Hugh William Skinner (born 6 January 1985) is an English actor. He is best known for starring in sitcoms W1A (TV series), ''W1A'' (2014–2017) and ''The Windsors'' (2016–2020), and his appearances in musical films Les Misérables (2012 film) ...

as Harry, Fleabag's ex-boyfriend *

Hugh Dennis Peter Hugh Dennis (born 13 February 1962) is an English comedian, presenter, actor, writer, impressionist and voice-over artist who has appeared in the comedy double act Punt and Dennis with partner Steve Punt. He played Dr Piers Crispin in the ...

as Bank Manager, approached by Fleabag for a loan (series 1; guest series 2) * Ben Aldridge as Arsehole Guy, one of Fleabag's love interests, so named for his taste for

anal sex Anal sex or anal intercourse is generally the insertion and thrusting of the erect penis into a person's anus, or anus and rectum, for sexual pleasure.Sepages 270–271for anal sex information, anpage 118for information about the clitoris. ...

(series 1; guest series 2) *

Jenny Rainsford Jennifer "Jenny" Rainsford is an English actress. A native of Watford, Rainsford graduated with a degree in English from University of Oxford, before studying acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, from which she graduated in 2011. As well ...

as Boo, Fleabag's deceased best friend and business partner

Guest

Jamie Demetriou Jamie Demetriou (born November 1987) is an English comedian, actor and screenwriter. He is best known for his role as Bus Rodent in ''Fleabag'' and for creating, co-writing, and starring in '' Stath Lets Flats''. For the latter, he won Best Male ...

as Bus Rodent, one of Fleabag's love interests (series 1) *

as Fleabag's counsellor (series 2) *

as Belinda, a successful businesswoman who meets Fleabag at an awards ceremony presented by Claire (series 2) *

Ray Fearon Raymond Fearon is an English actor. He played garage mechanic Nathan Harding on ITV's long-running soap opera ''Coronation Street'' and voiced the centaur Firenze in the Wizarding World film series ''Harry Potter'' and ''Fantastic Beasts''. ...

as Hot Misogynist, who serves as Fleabag's lawyer and one of her love interests (series 2) * Christian Hillborg as Klare, Claire's Finnish business partner and love interest (series 2) *

Jo Martin Jo Martin (born 29 April) is a British actress. She played Natalie Crouch in the BBC One sitcom ''The Crouches'', which aired between 2003 and 2005. She joined the cast of ''Holby City'' in 2019 as neurosurgeon Max McGerry. Martin portrayed an ...

as Pam, who works at the priest's church (series 2) *

Angus Imrie Angus William Jake Imrie (born 2 August 1994) is a British actor. He is known for playing the character Josh Archer in BBC Radio 4's long-running drama serial ''The Archers''. In 2014, he won the casting agency Spotlight's Most Promising Actor ...

as Jake, Martin's teenage son and Claire's step-son (series 2)

Episodes

Series 1 (2016)

Series 2 (2019)

Distribution and broadcast

Fleabag at The Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2013

BBC Three was the original broadcast channel for the show with a repeat run broadcast on

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...

between 21 August and 25 September 2016. The second series was broadcast on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, p ...

at the same time as being released on BBC Three, by this time only available online. It was picked up by the on-demand

Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, also known simply as Prime Video, is an American Video on demand#Subscription models, subscription video on-demand Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Streaming media, streaming and Renting, rental service of Amazon (c ...

(formerly Amazon Video) service and premiered in the United States on 16 September 2016. ''Fleabag'' is also available on IFC in the US. In the Netherlands, it was picked up by

Net5 Net5 is a Dutch free-to-cable commercial TV channel and is part of Talpa TV, formerly a part of SBS Broadcasting B.V. and now owned by Talpa Network. Other channels of the group in the Netherlands are SBS6, Veronica, and SBS9. It is aimed ...

. The show has been remade for French television by

Jeanne Herry Jeanne Herry (born 19 April 1978) is a French filmmaker and actress. Personal life She is the daughter of actress Miou-Miou and singer-songwriter Julien Clerc Paul Alain Leclerc (born 4 October 1947), known by his stage name Julien Clerc (), ...

. Titled '' Mouche'' (French for 'fly', the insect), it started airing on 3 June 2019 on pay channel

Canal+ Canal+ (Canal Plus, , meaning 'Channel Plus'; sometimes abbreviated C+ or Canal) is a French premium television channel launched in 1984. It is 100% owned by the Groupe Canal+, which in turn is owned by Vivendi. The channel broadcasts several ki ...

. ''Mouche'' is a close remake, though set in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

with

Camille Cottin Camille Cottin (; born 1 December 1978) is a French actress and comedian. Following her debut as a stage actress, she became known in 2013 for playing a capricious Parisian woman in the Canal+ hidden camera-sketches series ''Connasse'' (2013–20 ...

in the starring role.

Reception

Critical response

Both series of ''Fleabag'' received widespread acclaim from television critics. At 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 ...

, both series received approval ratings of 100%. The first series received an average rating of 8.5/10, based on 42 reviews, with the site's critical consensus reading: "Clever and viciously funny, ''Fleabag'' is a touching, wildly inventive comedy about a complicated young woman navigating the aftermath of trauma." The second series received an average rating of 9.3/10, based on 97 reviews, with the critical consensus stating: "''Fleabag'' jumps back into the fray with a bracing second season that upholds its predecessor's frenzied wit and delicate heart, replete with Phoebe Waller-Bridge's indefatigable charisma". At

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 ...

, the first series received a

weighted average The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...

score of 88 out of 100, based on 19 critics, while the second series received a score of 96, based on 21 critics, both signifying "universal acclaim".

Emily Nussbaum Emily Nussbaum (born February 20, 1966) is an American television critic. She served as the television critic for ''The New Yorker'' from 2011 until 2019. In 2016, she won the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism. Early life Nussbaum was born in the ...

of ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'' described the first series as "a precision black-humor mechanism, a warped and affecting fable about one single woman's existence."

Maureen Ryan Maureen "Mo" Ryan (born in 1966) is an American film and television critic, writer and reporter. From 2000 to 2018, she was a TV critic at the ''Huffington Post'' and the ''Chicago Tribune''. From 2015 to 2018, Ryan was the chief TV critic for ''V ...

at ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' called it "scathingly funny", concluding that "long after it’s pulled you in with its irreverence and jokes about sex, and beguiled you with its cutting wit and messily human characters, it reveals that it’s actually a tragedy".

Hank Stuever Hank Stuever (born 1968) is an American journalist who writes about popular culture for the ''Style'' section of ''The Washington Post''. Early life and education Stuever was born and raised in Oklahoma City, where he attended Bishop McGuinn ...

of ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'' characterised it as a "funny, highly profane but surprisingly poignant dramedy". Mike Hale in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' praised the show for its "restless, almost feral energy and its slap-in-the-face attitude."

Mary McNamara Mary McNamara (born 1963) is an American journalist and television critic for the ''Los Angeles Times''. She won the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Criticism. Biography McNamara moved from Baltimore to Westminster, Maryland, Westminster in elementary sc ...

of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' commended its unpredictability, acting, and "clear eye for truth that often becomes, like all good comedy, quite devastating". Serena Davies of ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

'' lauded the second series as "a near-perfect work of art".

Mary Elizabeth Williams Mary Elizabeth Williams is an American writer and commentator. She is a staff writer for the online magazine ''Salon''. She has also written for ''The New York Times'', ''The Nation'', and other publications. As a commentator, she has made appeara ...

of ''

Salon Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon, a venue for cosmetic treatments * French term for a drawing room, an architectural space in a home * Salon (gathering), a meeting for learning or enjoyment Arts and entertainment * Salon (P ...

'' praised its "brilliant swan song", finding the series's conclusion satisfying and "well-earned". For ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'',

Alan Sepinwall Alan Sepinwall (born October 19, 1973) is an American television reviewer and writer. He spent 14 years as a columnist with ''The Star-Ledger'' in Newark until leaving the newspaper in 2010 to work for the entertainment news website HitFix. He th ...

wrote that the "tragicomic masterpiece reaches new heights in its second outing".

James Poniewozik James "Jim" Poniewozik (; born July 12, 1968) is an American journalist and television critic. He is the chief TV critic for ''The New York Times''. Earlier in his career, he wrote ''Time'' magazine's ''Tuned In'' column for 16 years. Early life ...

of ''The New York Times'' wrote that "the new season feels immediately confident, if inevitably less groundbreaking. Yet it continues to push its form". Hannah Jane Parkinson of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' described the conclusion as "the most electrifying, devastating TV in years", writing of the second series that "it seems as though many who either did not watch the first series, or who didn’t think it lived up to the hype, have been converted". According to Metacritic's aggregate of decade-end lists, ''Fleabag'' was the second-highest ranked show of the 2010s. In 2019, it was ranked 8th on ''The Guardians list of the 100 best TV shows of the 21st century. Former United States President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

named the second season of ''Fleabag'' among his favorite films and television series of 2019. In his annual list, which he released on Twitter on 29 December 2019, he added a small addendum with the title, "and a quick list of TV shows that I considered as powerful as movies: ''Fleabag: Season 2'', '' Unbelievable'', and ''

Watchmen ''Watchmen'' is an American comic book Limited series (comics), maxiseries by the British creative team of writer Alan Moore, artist Dave Gibbons and colorist John Higgins (comics), John Higgins. It was published monthly by DC Comics in 1986 a ...

''. In 2022, ''Rolling Stone'' ranked ''Fleabag'' as the fifth-greatest TV show of all time.

Accolades

Music

Waller-Bridge's sister,

Isobel Waller-Bridge __NOTOC__ Isobel Noeline Waller-Bridge (born 23 April 1984) is a British composer who is known for her scores for film, television, and theatre, along with her works for electronic music and contemporary classical music. Life and career Waller- ...

, composed the music for both series.

Home media

References

External links

* * {{Amazon Video original series 2010s British black comedy television series 2010s British comedy-drama television series 2016 British television series debuts 2019 British television series endings Amazon Prime Video original programming BBC comedy-drama television shows Best Musical or Comedy Series Golden Globe winners Casual sex in television English-language television shows Fictional characters who break the fourth wall Metafictional television series Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series winners Primetime Emmy Award-winning television series Self-reflexive television Television series about sisters Television series based on plays Television series created by Phoebe Waller-Bridge Television shows set in London Television series by All3Media Television series by BBC Studios