Us

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.

The main storyline was rather uncomfortable at times. It was pretty clear what was happening and that Douglas's attempts to save a failing marriage was going to be in vain. Brattish son, Albie, was no help at all. He is too self centred. I always struggle with flashbacks where the central actors are different although Iain De Caestecker did a very good take on a young Tom Hollander. Who was outstanding was Sofie Grabol (Sarah Lund in the Danish series The Killing). She managed to convey all her inner emotions and feelings without having to say anything specific in the dialogue with Douglas. We viewers knew what was happening and the drama was always lifted when she was on screen. Another winner was the locations. It was a pretty good travelogue without all the drama. This was billed as a comedy ... really? There was nothing amusing about it.

Thoroughly enjoyed this series due to fine photography in various locations

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.

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