''Marriage'' is a 2022 British

television drama In film and television show, television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or docudrama, semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humour, humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms t ...

series, starring Nicola Walker and Sean Bean as a married couple in a long term domestic relationship. It was created, written and directed by

Stefan Golaszewski Stefan Golaszewski (born November 1980) is a British writer, performer and director. He is part of the comedy troupe Cowards and is the writer and creator of BAFTA winning sitcoms ''Him & Her'' and '' Mum''. Early life and education Golaszews ...

. The four-part series opened on 14 August 2022 on BBC One. It was simultaneously made available in full to stream, on

BBC iPlayer BBC iPlayer (stylised as iPLAYER or BBC iPLAYER) is a video on demand service from the BBC. The service is available on a wide range of devices, including mobile phones and tablets, personal computers and smart televisions. iPlayer services del ...

Cast

* Sean Bean as Ian, Emma's husband who has recently been made redundant * Nicola Walker as Emma, Ian's wife who is a solicitor *Chantelle Alle as Jessica, Ian and Emma's adoptive daughter and a singer * Henry Lloyd-Hughes as Jamie, Emma's boss * Jack Holden as Adam, Jessica's abusive boyfriend and a record producer *

James Bolam James Christopher Bolam (born 16 June 1935) is an English actor. He is best known for his roles as Terry Collier in ''The Likely Lads'' and its sequel ''Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?'', Jack Ford in ''When the Boat Comes In'', Roy Fig ...

as Gerry, Emma's father *Makir Ahmed as Mike, Emma's colleague *

Kath Hughes Kath Hughes is a Welsh actress, writer and comedian. She is known for portraying the role of Coleen in the black comedy drama series '' After Life'' and for being one quarter of the comedy sketch group Gein's Family Giftshop. Life and career P ...

as Claire, Emma's colleague *Ella Augustin as Maxine, an employee at the local leisure centre *Hector Hewer as Kieran, an employee at the local leisure centre *Shona McHugh as Emily, an employee at Jamie's company who is on work experience *Kemal Sylvester as Paul, Emma's brother *Miles Barrow as Mark, a restaurant employee who befriends Jessica

Production

In September 2021, it was announced that the BBC had commissioned Golaszewski's new drama, starring Walker and Bean. It was a co-production between The Forge and The Money Men, in association with All3Media International. The theme tune is " Partita for 8 Voices: No 1, Allemande", an a cappella work by the American composer Caroline Shaw.

Episode list

Reception

The series received mostly very good reviews from critics, and mixed reviews from viewers. ''The Telegraph'' praised the first episode and gave it five out of five stars. Ben East of ''Metro'', similarly, praised the first episode and gave it four stars. Rebecca Nicholson for ''

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 ...

'' gave the first episode four out of five stars, remarking, 'There is a pitch-perfect realism to the way these characters talk without really saying anything, then put across what they really mean while saying nothing at all. It’s so cleverly done.' By contrast, Nick Hilton, writing for ''The Independent'', gave ''Marriage'' two out of five stars, adding that the show would "bore you to tears".

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 15483452 2022 British television series debuts 2022 British television series endings 2020s British drama television series 2020s British television miniseries English-language television shows