Years and Years (2019): A Dizzying, Dystopic Family Drama
One of the most startling new shows of 2019 is BBC/HBO’s Years & Years. The 6-part series is the brainchild of Russell T. Davies, who is likely best known stateside for running Doctor Who from 2005–2010. Gay audiences of a certain age, however, might know him as the creator of the original Queer as Folk, one of the first series to portray the lives of gay men honestly. Years and Years follows the Lyons, an upper middle class British family based in Manchester, as they confront an increasingly politically volatile Britain. The family is composed of Daniel and his boyfriend Ralph, Stephen and his wife Celeste, Rosie and her newborn son Leo, Edith, and the matriarch “Gran”/Muriel. The series has been billed as a political dystopia set to the rhythms of a This is Us style family melodrama. However, the delicate balancing act that this show achieves is no small feat.
The year is 2019, and Rosie (Ruth Madeley) has just given birth to a son, Lincoln, fathered by an absent Chinese lover. As Daniel (an excellent Russell Tovey) cradles his nephew, he ponders what kind of future will befall…
