User reviews

Another one from the Guardian's Best of 2020 list, "Us" is a comedy drama mini-series with a tremendous central performance from Tom Hollander, but with great work from the rest of the cast too. We watched it all over one weekend and it sounds cliché to say, but it really spoke to me as a husband and father, about not taking my blessings for granted.

Douglas (Tom Hollander) desperately hopes that one final family holiday across Europe can put the spark back into his dwindling marriage to Connie (Saskia Reeves) and establish better lines of communication with his son, Albie (Tom Taylor). Despite acknowledging the need for the holiday to be fun and for him to change, Douglas' rigid agenda alienates his family, and an incident leads Albie to strike out on his own. Douglas tries to catch up with Albie and reminisces about the incidents in his life that have led to this moment.

Timing certainly does help with "Us" there's a romantic travelogue element as the family head from Paris, to Amsterdam, Venice and Barcelona, with a few other stops along the way. In a year when I've gone more than an hours drive from my house only once, seeing what that unbounded freedom for exploration was like seems a long, long time ago. I'm looking forward to getting back to it when we can.

As I say, it's Hollander's performance that is the real reason to come to the show. Douglas is, at times, an unappealing character. His heart is often in the right place, but he's shy and rigid and has assumed that his relationships will work out despite never really working on them. The end of the relationship is juxtaposed with the beginning of it, with Iain De Caestecker and Gina Bramhill playing younger versions of Douglas and Connie. This element, though well done, jarred for me a little bit as it should have taken place in the late 90's but often felt, from the cars and clothes that it was happening in the 1970's.

It's certainly not for everyone, it's a very "grown up" show dealing with a reality that can happen for all of us, if you don't work at it. A funny, droll, uplifting but also sad and sobering experience.

I thought this was wonderful. I'm enjoying these quality shows about the emotional shoals of later life. Tom Hollander is excellent, he made me in turn laugh with him, crawl with awkward embarrasment, cry at his couragous attempts to deal with his own vulnerabilities. Watching him deal with the inevitable failure as a parent, those moments all good parents have when they face the failures caused by their own personal limitations. The end was a bit too tidy, but otherwise, an emotionally grown up high quality drama.

A family have reached a point where they're no longer functioning as a unit, the solution, a holiday across Europe.

A cracker, this four part drama is one of the best offerings to come from the BBC for a long time. It's funny, poignant, moving and all around great drama.

I saw the trailers, expected it to go in a certain way, it doesn't, half way through it goes into a totally different direction.

You have to wait until the very end to learn if Douglas and Connie stick together. You'll get all of the pieces from past and present, and be able to understand why they end up in such a mess.

Part four is out of this world, one of the most moving things I've seen for some time.

Best of all, the acting, out of this world, Tom Hollander and Saskia Reeves are out of this world, a true chemistry between them.

Bravo BBC, cast, all concerned, wonderful, 9/10.

After watching the last episode I spent time on planning some changes to how I interact with my own boy. It was inspiring. The actors couldn't have done a better job playing their characters. Loved it!

There has been some criticism that this is 'slow', I disagree and would describe it more as 'studied'. Tom Hollander is fantastic as usual and it was lovely to see Sophie Grabol again. The storyline is engaging for the most part, despite the self centred son and wife, but I must admit I fast forwarded most of the flashback scenes which I found a bit boring. It's actually a very considered depiction of an introvert in an extrovert's world

I decided to watch it mainly because of the travel aspect. I didn't think the relationship between the two main characters was realistic, although if I'm enjoying something I don't always find this necessary as I enjoy fantasy and escapism. I just wasn't enjoying this as much as I should have been. The description of this series describes it as hilarious, which does actually make me laugh! There was some mild humour, but hilarious it wasn't!! Maybe some couples who divorce, with plenty of money at their disposal have had a relationship like this, but I've never known any, and it wasn't quite light hearted enough for it not to matter. I'm not even sure I liked either of them very much. I liked Sophie Grabol's character much more than either of them. Still, it did keep me watching to see what was going to happen next, so I'm not surprised ratings are good.

Very well done and enjoyable but very depressing. Makes you want to question your own marriage.

I almost gave up on this show after episode 2, growing weary of this family: the inflexible but affable father, annoying mother and surly son. The most enjoyable aspect were the travel settings like Paris and Amsterdam. But decided to stick with it and felt episodes 3 and 4 were much more engrossing. Tom Hollander as Douglas carried the show. But in the end, this show about love, loss, reconciliation made no sense. Connie, the mother, was the happiest unhappy wife I've seen on the screen.

Yet another BBC 'comedy' that is devoid of laughs or at least anything approaching mildly amusing. Just more excruciating fish out of water situations. Still at least there was no BBC box-ticking as per usual.

It's definitely a very light-hearted show. I didn't love Douglas as a character. I thought he was a pretty shallow, cruel person and an odd choice as a protagonist. Although he tries, years of neglect towards his son and sceptism for his hobbies is geniuenly really terrible and heartless. The ending was certainly much too tidy for my taste and it made the whole show feel somewhat emotionally shallow. However, disregarding it's shortcomings in terms of believability, the show is really sweet and entertaining. I would recommend.

I can't stand any more of the Tom Hollander character. He's irritating beyond belief. I'm partway through the second episode and I can't take any more. If he were my husband I'd have murdered him years ago.

Watched all 4 eps recently. Excellent stuff. Anything with Tom Hollander and Saskia Reeves is good in my book. Locations fabulous and the story from the book so well done. Bravo. British talent at its best!!

I sat down to watch the first episode and ended watching the whole 4 hours in one viewing.It was brilliantly cast , brilliantly written and one of the most enjoyable mini series I have seen in a long time .Great acting and very moving in a good way

... should most breakups go this route.. there would be lots fewer divorce attorneys... somewhat enjoyable to watch because of all the European locations... other than that it's just standard fare

... when all's-said-n-done, she leaves him.. both-are-happy ... next scene he's in a museum staring at art with his new lady.. sure, just real life.

I'm going to keep this short.....perfect Sunday night TV.Well acted,very funny,feelgood and very watchable TV.One of the best series the very inconsistent and controversial BBC has recently made.

This is one of those "perfect" British productions (with exception of the trite, sentimental score) that you are nonetheless likely to forget without being sure exactly why. It's admittedly very "intelligent" but ultimately uninspired...and who cares about these people, anyway? It's not that they are not likeable; it's that we are supposed to care about them to the extent we have shared some part of their experience. That boils down to a harmless narcissism that ultimately limits this viewer's interest. Anybody who has sent their child off to college understands that singular sense of grief, but it passes just as your memory of the show is likely to do the same. And boy, does that gooey, generic music get on one's nerves!!

This is such a heartwarming and feel good family drama. As is normal in most families, not all of the characters are likable but that is the beauty of this series - it realistically portrayed a typical family. I loved the European background scenes and I felt rather fond of the clumsy Tom Hollander as the series went along. Its funny but also moving and made me reflect on my own relationship with my family. One bit that I did not like was the constant flashbacks - was it really necessary?? All in all I would say its a must watch for married couples.

Somewhat boring travel tale of a marriage on the rocks. The big problem with this show was that in the flashbacks of their meeting and romance, the couple had nothing in common and seemed ill suited right from the start. Totally unbelievable they would marry. The guy was a drip and stayed a drip to the end. That was the second issue I had with this show. Tom H.'s character was such an unlikeable jerk you wondered how his wife lasted this long with him. And note the whole middle of this tale was just Hollander desperately searching Europe for his son who went walk-a-bout.

I felt this was a journey many married couples with children can relate to . I found the first part of episode one a little slow however soon became engrossed and lost in their story. Very sad in parts, yet relatively realistic. I loved the ending.

When all the main characters are so irritating and unlikeable, it takes a mammoth effort to continue watching. Yes there is some beautiful scenery in European capitals, but despite that, this dull tale of middle class angst fails miserably to engage emotionally or otherwise. Tom Hollander bravely does his best with a lame script, Saskia Reeves is miscast- too old for the part and wearing a very strange and distracting wig. The spoilt teenage son and the 'zany' busker they pick up along the way are simply boring stereotypes. I only managed to plod through the first two tedious episodes. Perhaps it gets better but if you can't hold an audience's interest for the first two hours it's doubtful the second two hours will be any improvement. Such a disappointment.