''Patrick Melrose'' is a 2018 five-part

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

miniseries A miniseries or mini-series is a television series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. "Limited series" is another more recent US term which is sometimes used interchangeably. , the popularity of miniseries format h ...

starring

Benedict Cumberbatch Benedict Timothy Carlton Cumberbatch (born 19 July 1976) is an English actor. Known for his work on screen and stage, he has received various accolades, including a British Academy Television Award, a Primetime Emmy Award and a Laurence O ...

in the titular role. The show is based on a series of semi-autobiographical novels by

Edward St Aubyn Edward St Aubyn (born 14 January 1960) is an English author and journalist. He is the author of ten novels, including notably the semi-autobiographical ''Patrick Melrose'' novels. In 2006, ''Mother's Milk'' was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. ...

Premise

Over five decades from the 1960s to the early 2000s, wealthy Englishman Patrick Melrose attempts to overcome his addictions and demons rooted in abuse by his cruel father and negligent mother.

Cast

Patrick Melrose Edward St Aubyn (born 14 January 1960) is an English author and journalist. He is the author of ten novels, including notably the semi-autobiographical ''Patrick Melrose'' novels. In 2006, ''Mother's Milk'' was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. ...

** Sebastian Maltz as young Patrick Melrose *

Jennifer Jason Leigh Jennifer Jason Leigh (born Jennifer Leigh Morrow; February 5, 1962) is an American actress. She began her career on television during the 1970s before making her film breakthrough as Stacy Hamilton in ''Fast Times at Ridgemont High'' (1982). She ...

as Eleanor Melrose *

Hugo Weaving Hugo Wallace Weaving (born 4 April 1960) is an English actor. Born in Colonial Nigeria to English parents, he has resided in Australia for the entirety of his career. He is the recipient of six AACTA Awards, Australian Academy of Cinema and Tel ...

as David Melrose *

Jessica Raine Jessica Raine (born Jessica Helen Lloyd; 20 May 1982) is an English actress. She is best known for her roles as Jenny Lee in the television series ''Call the Midwife'' (2012–2014) and Verity Lambert in the television film ''An Adventure in Sp ...

as Julia *

Pip Torrens Philip D'Oyly "Pip" Torrens (born 2 June 1960) is an English actor. Known for playing urbane, authoritative figures, Torrens portrayed courtier Tommy Lascelles in the Netflix drama ''The Crown'', aristocrat Lord Massen in the HBO series ''The ...

as Nicholas Pratt *

Prasanna Puwanarajah Prasanna Puwanarajah ( ta, பிரசன்னா புவனராஜா; born 1981) is an English actor, director, writer, and former junior medical doctor. Early life Puwanarajah was born at Ipswich Hospital in Suffolk to Eelam Tamil par ...

as Johnny Hall *

Holliday Grainger Holliday Clark Grainger (born 27 March 1988), also credited as Holly Grainger, is an English screen and stage actress. Some of her prominent roles are Kate Beckett in the BAFTA award-winning children's series ''Roger and the Rottentrolls'', Luc ...

as Bridget Watson Scott *

Indira Varma Indira Anne Varma (born 27 September 1973) is a British actress and narrator. Her film debut and first major role was in '' Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love''. She has gone on to appear in the television series ''The Canterbury Tales'', ''Rome'', ''L ...

as Anne Moore *

Anna Madeley Anna Madeley (born 1 October 1976) is an English actress. She performed for three seasons with the Royal Shakespeare Company and has appeared in three off-West End productions. She has starred in productions on each of the main British televisi ...

as Mary Melrose *

Blythe Danner Blythe Katherine Danner (born February 3, 1943) is an American actress. Accolades she has received include two Primetime Emmy Awards for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her role as Izzy Huffstodt on '' Huff'' (2004–2006), and a ...

as Nancy *

Celia Imrie Celia Diana Savile Imrie (born 15 July 1952) is an English actress and author. She was described in 2003 as one of the most successful British actresses of recent decades. She is best known for her film roles, including the '' Bridget Jones'' f ...

as Kettle *

Harriet Walter Dame Harriet Mary Walter (born 24 September 1950) is a British actress. She has received a Laurence Olivier Award as well as numerous nominations including for a Tony Award, three Primetime Emmy Awards, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. In 20 ...

as Princess Margaret * Allison Williams as Marianne *

Morfydd Clark Morfydd Clark (born ) is a Welsh actress. She is best known for her role as Galadriel in the Amazon Prime fantasy series '' The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power'' (2022–). She received a number of accolades for her performance in the film ...

as Debbie Hickman * Marcus Smith as Robert Melrose

Production

It was announced in February 2017 that Benedict Cumberbatch would star in and produce a television adaptation of

’s Patrick Melrose book series, that would air on

Showtime Showtime or Show Time may refer to: Film * ''Showtime'' (film), a 2002 American action/comedy film * ''Showtime'' (video), a 1995 live concert video by Blur Television Networks and channels * Showtime Networks, a division of Paramount Global w ...

in the United States and

Sky Atlantic Sky Atlantic is a British pay television channel owned by Sky Group Limited broadcast in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The channel is primarily dedicated to imported programmes from the United States, and holds the domestic rights to HBO ...

in the United Kingdom. David Nicholls wrote the five episodes of the series, with

Edward Berger Edward Berger (born 1970 in Wolfsburg, West Germany) is a German director and screenwriter. Life and work Edward Berger graduated from Theodor-Heuss-Gymnasium (Wolfsburg), Theodor-Heuss-Gymnasium in Wolfsburg. He attended the Hochschule für Bi ...

directing. In July,

and

joined as Patrick’s mother and father, and

was cast as Patrick’s wife. Allison Williams and

joined in August 2017, with filming begun by October in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

Release

The first trailer debuted in April 2018, and the series premiered on May 12 on

. The series consecutively streamed new episodes on

CraveTV Crave (initially named CraveTV) is a Canadian subscription video on demand service owned by Bell Media. The service competes directly with other subscription-based over-the-top streaming services operating in Canada, primarily American-based se ...

in Canada. It was shown on

in the UK, and

Sky Vision Sky Vision was a production and distribution company founded by Sky in 2002 as Parthenon Media Group and was acquired and rebranded by Sky as Sky Vision. The business had investments in nine production businesses in the UK and US: Love Productio ...

handled international sales of the series.

Episodes

Reception

Critical response

The series was praised for Cumberbatch's performance. It currently has a 90% rating on

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 ...

, and a score of 80/100 on

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 ...

. In 2019, the series was ranked 51st on ''

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 ...

'' newspaper's list of the 100 best TV shows of the 21st century.

US ratings

Accolades

References

External links

* * * * {{Sky Atlantic 2010s American drama television miniseries 2010s British television miniseries 2018 American television series debuts 2018 British television series debuts 2018 British television series endings Alcohol abuse in television Child abuse in fiction English-language television shows Incest in television Rape in television Showtime (TV network) original programming Sky Atlantic original programming Television shows based on British novels Television shows set in New York City Works about addiction