If this show doesn't scare the crap out of you then you aren't paying attention. I haven't been this disturbed by a show since, well, ever.
268 Reviews
Are you paying attention?
dswhitcomb2 July 2019
A Not So Impossible Future...
lewilewis199715 May 2019
How often do you watch a pilot, then immediately watch it again? Not often, in fact rarely, right? I just have. Absolutely enthralled by the fast pace, intertwining world events with daily family life. A mixed race and class family cemented by two brothers and a sister, helped along by a Gran that says some outrageous things but is quite happy to accept all no matter what their race or sexuality because they're family.
The Alt Right are having kittens about this one, so it's already doing some good. 'Little Englanders' are claiming it's an attempt by the 'Marxist' BBC to feed the people anti Right propaganda, mostly because they don't like freedom of speech unless it's used for hurling insults or the idea of little brown babies with gay uncles. Or just the idea that people can get along without the need for a label denoting their origin, and therefore status. Sometimes Auntie Beeb is Left, sometimes Right, but always consistent with the quality of its dramas. This is one of the best I've seen for a long time, up there with Threads. YOU WILL HATE IT IF... you don't like the modern world, what it has become, if you're wearing a red baseball cap, if you think all foreigners are rapists, terrorists or drug traffickers, that gay people go against God. You will despise it if you hate the idea of removing barriers rather than wanting to build more. As the world in reality descends into a corrupt, billionaire run world where disparity between the haves and have nots is becoming more apparent by the day a drama like this is needed. The actors are already well known in the UK, most have been leads in other UK dramas, there's plenty of humour to lighten the load. Gran's insistence that tsunamis never used to happen, that they're 'a modern thing' had me howling. The original soundtrack adds an extra 20 beats a minute to an already racing heart rate, and is sometimes euphoric with speedy drums, violins frenetically going up the scales as choirs produce angelic cries of doom. Most of all it's a warning, a 'be careful what you wish for'. I can't wait for ep 2.
UPDATE; It's finished now, can't get across how disappointed I was with the final episode. Long monologues that seemed to want to cram in as much as possible. Almost like the writer, Russel T. Davies had planned on doing 8 episodes, but the producers said 'No. There's only enough money for 6' at the last minute, prompting a chaotic and clumsy rewrite. Same thing happened with Bodyguard, also a Beeb production. Come on BBC! This is why Netflix is kicking your backside at the mo'.
The Alt Right are having kittens about this one, so it's already doing some good. 'Little Englanders' are claiming it's an attempt by the 'Marxist' BBC to feed the people anti Right propaganda, mostly because they don't like freedom of speech unless it's used for hurling insults or the idea of little brown babies with gay uncles. Or just the idea that people can get along without the need for a label denoting their origin, and therefore status. Sometimes Auntie Beeb is Left, sometimes Right, but always consistent with the quality of its dramas. This is one of the best I've seen for a long time, up there with Threads. YOU WILL HATE IT IF... you don't like the modern world, what it has become, if you're wearing a red baseball cap, if you think all foreigners are rapists, terrorists or drug traffickers, that gay people go against God. You will despise it if you hate the idea of removing barriers rather than wanting to build more. As the world in reality descends into a corrupt, billionaire run world where disparity between the haves and have nots is becoming more apparent by the day a drama like this is needed. The actors are already well known in the UK, most have been leads in other UK dramas, there's plenty of humour to lighten the load. Gran's insistence that tsunamis never used to happen, that they're 'a modern thing' had me howling. The original soundtrack adds an extra 20 beats a minute to an already racing heart rate, and is sometimes euphoric with speedy drums, violins frenetically going up the scales as choirs produce angelic cries of doom. Most of all it's a warning, a 'be careful what you wish for'. I can't wait for ep 2.
UPDATE; It's finished now, can't get across how disappointed I was with the final episode. Long monologues that seemed to want to cram in as much as possible. Almost like the writer, Russel T. Davies had planned on doing 8 episodes, but the producers said 'No. There's only enough money for 6' at the last minute, prompting a chaotic and clumsy rewrite. Same thing happened with Bodyguard, also a Beeb production. Come on BBC! This is why Netflix is kicking your backside at the mo'.
The Second Epitsode Scared Me
bshaef4 July 2019
This show is unbelievably good. It tells a very simple story in day to day actions. I was scared about half way through episode two and three hours later I'm still a little edgy. Whoever wrote this is a genius. I thought Chernobyl was the top for the season but this show, so far, all alone on the mountaintop. While I'm working out every morning I think about all the possible ways this show could end. When I read the paper in the morning, i can usually pick out a couple of figures who are remarkably like the characters in the show. That's what's so darn scary about it.
It is scary how real it is
danhampl3141523 May 2019
This show makes you look around and think about the world as we know it and what it is becoming. Somehow it combines parts of our history and shows what is likely to happen if we don't think about whats going on and learn from our past.
Can't recommend it enough... Just to paint the picture, this is the first time I'm writing a review on a show. Thats how much it spoke to me.
Can't recommend it enough... Just to paint the picture, this is the first time I'm writing a review on a show. Thats how much it spoke to me.
I can't get it out of my head
jchampion-3587620 May 2019
I like it, however, it was blocked in my country.
hhlovemusic14 June 2019
China blocked the show after the second episode because it was suspected of attacking Chinese leaders.
In fact, I don't think he will really become a life leader. Because that is really against the education we receive. And historical trends.
In 2022, we will see what happens.
I hope that this world will develop in a good direction. I hope that the world will still be full of justice and fairness. I hope that the world will be a whole, not more and more fragmented.
Recently, the US trade war behavior has made me very disappointed with the United States because they do not seem to want to promote free trade.
In China, I feel more and more control, and the whole society is tightening. Because of the increasingly tense situation between China and the United States.
In fact, the China-US conflict at the beginning of the film is very similar to reality. I can hardly distinguish between reality and illusion.
This makes me very scared and deeply feels that politics is really about everyone's life.
The world seems to be moving in a bad direction.
I hope that we can all be tolerant, have more understanding and reason, and not be incited and misled.
I hope that all this will not happen as the drama.
Television history has been made!
freeobun15 May 2019
I created an account because I can't stop thinking about this show! Russell T Davies has worked his magic again and created something stellar. The first episode is an absolutely brilliant and terrifying hour of tv. The acting is totally convincing and raw, and the last twenty minutes in particular are pure genius - the tension is absolutely stifling. I am completely convinced that television history has been made with Years and Years. Really, really fantastic, and very sinister. I highly recommend and can't wait for next week.
Chilling and horrifying plausible
danamparker8 June 2019
Amazing cast, incredibly well written, disturbingly plausible storyline. Episode 4 broke my heart. I can honestly say that I may have lost a little sleep thinking about what the future may have in store for mankind after watching this!
Best opening episode of a series I've seen
matthewmarshall-4961515 May 2019
The opening episode of this show captured everything we are all feeling in this post-2014 world. It didn't pull a single punch, it hit every note in a way that made you not just question the world, but yourself.
It did suffer one thing, and that is that it didn't hide its own political stance. But, in a world where insanity seems to prevail, we need sensible people like Russell T Davies showing us where the line used to be, and hopefully help us get back to it.
It did suffer one thing, and that is that it didn't hide its own political stance. But, in a world where insanity seems to prevail, we need sensible people like Russell T Davies showing us where the line used to be, and hopefully help us get back to it.
Hugely ambitious show that sadly fails to live up to its excellent opening episodes.
Snowgoat3 July 2019
A great idea with massive ambition, Years and Years ultimately overreaches and suffers from the increasingly broad strokes applied to the story telling as the series progresses. There's still a lot to admire here - especially in the first few episodes, which are genuinely terrifying - but for me, sadly this show never lives up to its lofty ambitions and potential - and really falls off as it progresses.
I saw someone describe it as Black Mirror meets This Is Us - which is a pretty good description - and along with the nightmarish satire on the future there is some genuine heart. I've never been a fan of what little I've seen of Russel T Davies' previous work - I've always found his dialogue a bit clunky and his approximations of realism slightly off. That said, the first couple of episodes of Years and Years were so strong in concept I was willing to overlook the odd clunk - but sadly my grievances with his previous work came back to the fore as the series progressed. The drama often deflates under excessive exposition - and the repeated attempts to hide this within naturalised dialogue start to sound ever more clunky. Murray Gold's score also becomes quickly distracting and overbearing. Uneven performances didn't help things. Russell Tovey, Anne Reid, Emma Thompson and Ruth Madely are all great - but some of the support is uneven - and some of the actors required to do more heavy lifting as the series goes on just aren't up to it. Sadly what starts out as cutting horror-satire - because of its plausibility - quickly descends into uneven sci-fi with some ideas absurd to contemplate within the timeframe the series operates in.
Ultimately it was a little maddening in its unevenness - but I am glad I saw it - though it kind of felt like a glorious failure.
I saw someone describe it as Black Mirror meets This Is Us - which is a pretty good description - and along with the nightmarish satire on the future there is some genuine heart. I've never been a fan of what little I've seen of Russel T Davies' previous work - I've always found his dialogue a bit clunky and his approximations of realism slightly off. That said, the first couple of episodes of Years and Years were so strong in concept I was willing to overlook the odd clunk - but sadly my grievances with his previous work came back to the fore as the series progressed. The drama often deflates under excessive exposition - and the repeated attempts to hide this within naturalised dialogue start to sound ever more clunky. Murray Gold's score also becomes quickly distracting and overbearing. Uneven performances didn't help things. Russell Tovey, Anne Reid, Emma Thompson and Ruth Madely are all great - but some of the support is uneven - and some of the actors required to do more heavy lifting as the series goes on just aren't up to it. Sadly what starts out as cutting horror-satire - because of its plausibility - quickly descends into uneven sci-fi with some ideas absurd to contemplate within the timeframe the series operates in.
Ultimately it was a little maddening in its unevenness - but I am glad I saw it - though it kind of felt like a glorious failure.
Broken...
julianmoorhead254 June 2019
...broken hearted having just watched episode four of this ground breaking show and broken is vey much the state of the world portrayed in 'Years and Years'...which isn't as far fetched as it should be. The show is set in the near future and while things look bleak, they're presented in an everyday way through the eyes of one family. Rather than take a 'shock horror' approach to events as they chillingly unfold, the family simply live it day to day, as we would, with warmth and humour. This normalises the horrors of this future world and that packs a far greater emotional punch, because there is a real beating heart at the centre of everything. I can honestly say that I've never seen anything quite like this on television before. Each episode kinda pulls you in for a hug, then rips your heart out. 'Years and Years' is clever, nuanced and absolutely not-to-be-missed. Even in the midst of what seems like despair it still manages to be endlessly entertaining and never dry or dull. I dare you not to be challenged by this, in the best possible way. More of this kind of story telling/social commentary please.
A great idea that falls apart under appalling writing and overwrought direction
mikeprior-8310818 June 2019
It was a good premise and started well but as it's gone on I've just found it increasingly annoying.
Everyone speaks in great big thundering expository speeches, plot points are foreshadowed in fifty foot high neon signs, subtext is applied with the subtlety of a boot up the arse.
Call me old fashioned but I like it when actors don't look they're acting.
It also wants to have its cake and eat it in terms of Black Mirror-esque "5 minutes from now future shock" but has layered on a stupid amount of technological developments in a ridiculous amount of time yet the gran is still alive and healthy and apart from Rory Kinnear's hairline, none of the characters have undergone any change in appearance.
Oh and I hate absolutely everyone in it, every single character. Apart from the poor Ukrainian fella.
And the score is appalling - that OTT faux gothic horror at every plot development (including running over someone's bike)
The most grossly over-reviewed show I can remember in a long time.
Everyone speaks in great big thundering expository speeches, plot points are foreshadowed in fifty foot high neon signs, subtext is applied with the subtlety of a boot up the arse.
Call me old fashioned but I like it when actors don't look they're acting.
It also wants to have its cake and eat it in terms of Black Mirror-esque "5 minutes from now future shock" but has layered on a stupid amount of technological developments in a ridiculous amount of time yet the gran is still alive and healthy and apart from Rory Kinnear's hairline, none of the characters have undergone any change in appearance.
Oh and I hate absolutely everyone in it, every single character. Apart from the poor Ukrainian fella.
And the score is appalling - that OTT faux gothic horror at every plot development (including running over someone's bike)
The most grossly over-reviewed show I can remember in a long time.
BAFTA stuff.
ChairHugger15 May 2019
Perceptive, clever, completely credible, frightening, on the edge of your seat, jaw dropping drama. I was thinking BAFTA as the credits rolled and if the rest of the series maintains this standard, it's a shoo-in.
Jaw dropping
luketmcf15 May 2019
A Permanent Mark
thatblondude4 February 2023
Remarkable, unforgettable. This is the kind of stuff that motivates me to keep writing and working in this industry.
I don't remember another story giving me such an intense amount of feelings altogether. The weight it left on my heart got heavier and heavier with every sequence, every episode, every line of (magnificent) dialogue, and I could feel the writer's goal being accomplished within me. What a ride. Everything here is interesting, even arcs coming from minor characters, every detail.
Episode 4 was easily one of the toughest viewing experiences of my life (in a tremendously good way). It affected my mind in a way that I know I'll never forget, and could never fully describe (or recover, truly).
I always say that a good project "doesn't end when it ends", and this is the perfect example. Years and Years, somehow, left a permanent and stunning mark in my mind and soul.
It really doesn't get any better than this.
I don't remember another story giving me such an intense amount of feelings altogether. The weight it left on my heart got heavier and heavier with every sequence, every episode, every line of (magnificent) dialogue, and I could feel the writer's goal being accomplished within me. What a ride. Everything here is interesting, even arcs coming from minor characters, every detail.
Episode 4 was easily one of the toughest viewing experiences of my life (in a tremendously good way). It affected my mind in a way that I know I'll never forget, and could never fully describe (or recover, truly).
I always say that a good project "doesn't end when it ends", and this is the perfect example. Years and Years, somehow, left a permanent and stunning mark in my mind and soul.
It really doesn't get any better than this.
Best show ever
theadorawu5 June 2019
Brilliant.
olliecheng29 May 2019
Absolutely brilliant. This show is a one of a kind, a whole different aspect, which is, quite frankly, scary how this so could be our future. The first episode already had me gripped, with a very complex and interesting storyline. This is one of the best series I've ever watched.
What Could Become True
Wordanjells6 November 2022
Years & Years is a fictional, but very real feeling satirical drama. I was immediately intrigued when I first heard about its airing. As a big fan of Emma Thompson, I had to tune in. I was not expecting to be impacted as much as I was.. From start to finish Years & Years pulls you in. Expressing everyday fears that we all share, this show holds a high amount of relevancy. This show will make you Angry, Sad, but also Hopeful. Our future can be scary if we don't fight for what we love and hold dearly to our everyday lives. Years and Years gave me hope in a very dark time in World History. Anyone who needed hope after the 2016 Election should give it a watch.
It helped me remember that the real power is actually in the hands of the people.
It helped me remember that the real power is actually in the hands of the people.
Big ideas - small results
matthewsthatcher16 July 2019
I had high hopes after the premier. Nonetheless, the story ended up falling into contemporary tropes and losing its most interesting possibilities for story lines. Instead, we get extremely predictable turns and any thing that could be considered unexpected gets passed off as a quick news flash so the writers can go back to preaching to the choir of the day.
Feels a bit like the trying to fill out a checklist for contemporary critics to lazily score a review.
That being said, the actors do their best with what they have to work.
Feels a bit like the trying to fill out a checklist for contemporary critics to lazily score a review.
That being said, the actors do their best with what they have to work.
This is genocide.
Snake_IT11 June 2019
This is not just an excellent series, but first of all it is a very serious message from the heart of one of the most totalitarian countries of the world devoured by inhuman propaganda. Almost every dialogue or event has a hidden meaning. If the whole world has to be informed about the current global genocide by such veiled methods, then we really live in end of times.
I want to thank everyone who is involved in this show. Know, you are heard and understood.
10/10
The world through the eyes of a liberal middle class brit
Turanic7 September 2019
There was another show called " Black mirror " which sort of had a better approach towards the entire subject of the near future... Although the show is entertaining it is quite cheesy and predictable, yet fun ... What is wrong with this show? The Russians are the baddies(guess what, they're the baddies in films and tv since 60's Star Trek shows and James Bond films), the Chinese are also the baddies, only UK is all for gay marriages and kids that want to be trans... And in the middle of it all we have a middle aged brit providing housing to dark skinned middle eastern looking Ukrainians... But seriously go and google how Ukrainians look like before you fill an entire set with middle eastern looking refugees... This show is simply a picture through the prism of a typical snobbish midlde aged brit living somewhere in Hampsead Heath, thinking his country is better and more civilized than all the other countries, which voted Brexit while hating yet accepting all the liberal stuff...
Good concept, horribly executed
ruzl22 May 2019
I was quite looking forward to this when my partner described the outline of the show to me. Following a family from the present to 15 years in the future as the world breaks down slowly around them is a novel and entertaining way to present a dystopia.
Unfortunately, the writing is horrible; this is Russell T Davies at his worst. The future provided is the kind of half-baked naive vision of a 14 year old's English essay. The worst possible outcome to any situation usually happens, but this isn't set up through clever writing; instead it's just arbitrarily thrown in with no research or effort to lead into it. There's no sense of pay-off from the various disasters happening - they're completely arbitrary and routinely come out of nowhere. These are disasters which appear simply because the plot needs something bad to happen now, rather than because they were clearly set up earlier and are a logical progression of the narrative.
The characters are basically ciphers for the writer's views; while I agree that Trump is a dangerous nutter and the rise of the far right is a threat to modern society, the script handles this with absolutely no subtlety and so people will randomly leap into a long dissertation on the nature of the world in the middle of a normal conversation. They may as well just turn to the camera and start addressing the audience directly, or else cut to RTD reclining in a leather armchair to lecture us.
This would be problematic in itself, but is compounded by RTD's frankly incompetent grasp of seemingly everything - his idea of politics is facile, his grip on basic science questionable. If you're going to include a plot line involving radiation, then try reading a book on the subject rather than just throwing arbitrary numbers around like a 1950s comic book. And most of the tech progress ideas are honestly either rather silly, or else anachronisms which have already been surpassed by current technology - again, something a little basic research would've spotted.
Tone and pacing are both issues as well; the script goes from silly comedy to tense drama and back again with such flippant regularity that the overall tone is just a mess. Pacing, meanwhile, tends to drag on the family scenes and then skate over the actual useful plot-furthering scenes, leading to lengthy,, unrealistic information-dump dialogue between family members to try and make up for it.
The actors do their best with what they've been given, but really a comprehensive re-write would be needed to make this anything worthwhile. I've struggled to watch the first two episodes, but tbh I don't know if I can stand the third; a terrible missed opportunity.
Unfortunately, the writing is horrible; this is Russell T Davies at his worst. The future provided is the kind of half-baked naive vision of a 14 year old's English essay. The worst possible outcome to any situation usually happens, but this isn't set up through clever writing; instead it's just arbitrarily thrown in with no research or effort to lead into it. There's no sense of pay-off from the various disasters happening - they're completely arbitrary and routinely come out of nowhere. These are disasters which appear simply because the plot needs something bad to happen now, rather than because they were clearly set up earlier and are a logical progression of the narrative.
The characters are basically ciphers for the writer's views; while I agree that Trump is a dangerous nutter and the rise of the far right is a threat to modern society, the script handles this with absolutely no subtlety and so people will randomly leap into a long dissertation on the nature of the world in the middle of a normal conversation. They may as well just turn to the camera and start addressing the audience directly, or else cut to RTD reclining in a leather armchair to lecture us.
This would be problematic in itself, but is compounded by RTD's frankly incompetent grasp of seemingly everything - his idea of politics is facile, his grip on basic science questionable. If you're going to include a plot line involving radiation, then try reading a book on the subject rather than just throwing arbitrary numbers around like a 1950s comic book. And most of the tech progress ideas are honestly either rather silly, or else anachronisms which have already been surpassed by current technology - again, something a little basic research would've spotted.
Tone and pacing are both issues as well; the script goes from silly comedy to tense drama and back again with such flippant regularity that the overall tone is just a mess. Pacing, meanwhile, tends to drag on the family scenes and then skate over the actual useful plot-furthering scenes, leading to lengthy,, unrealistic information-dump dialogue between family members to try and make up for it.
The actors do their best with what they've been given, but really a comprehensive re-write would be needed to make this anything worthwhile. I've struggled to watch the first two episodes, but tbh I don't know if I can stand the third; a terrible missed opportunity.
Staggeringly good
Alestrel15 May 2019
Incredible TV
redouglas-9627110 June 2019
I am consumed by this tv show. I cannot stop thinking about it. It's terrifying because these events aren't so far away from us, and are certainly already happening to plenty of people. The cast is incredible, the writing is superb. The cinematography of the sea/boat scene in episode 4 is astounding. So simple but so effective.
I started watching Years & Years as I'm a big fan of both Russells involved, and I'm absolutely gripped. Terrific television.
It's what will happen if dumb dumbs gain control.
katharath7 March 2020
Yes, it's what will happen if stupidity, short sidedness, and greed win out. Unless we're very careful, this is coming. Extreme right wingers are mad because it makes them look bad - that's because they are bad. This show examines what happens when the extreme right and the extreme left take control, and it should be a lesson to us all about moderation, compassion, and morality. It's absolutely worth the watch, but the very last epi meanders a bit - even so I give it a solid 8+ rating. Please people, don't elect shallow unqualified idiots. It's literally damaging the entire world.
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