# Cuckoo (2012)

> A protective British father wages war on his daughter's impulsively married American hippie son-in-law, whose New Age schemes keep upending the household.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/43041

## Facts

- Seasons: 5
- Episodes: 33
- Episode runtime: 30 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: comedy
- Created by: Kieron Quirke, Robin French
- Network: BBC Three
- Cast: Greg Davies, Tamla Kari, Helen Baxendale, Esther Smith, Tyger Drew-Honey, Taylor Lautner, Andy Samberg, Andie MacDowell
- TMDB rating: 7.2/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2222352/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: brisk
- Intensity: mild
- Complexity: simple
- Violence: none
- Tone: cringe, irreverent, warm, chaotic, sardonic

## What critics say

Audiences praise the first season's sharp family comedy and Greg Davies's lead performance, while later seasons are seen as less consistent.

## Synopsis

Cuckoo (2012-2019) is a British sitcom created by Kieron Quirke and Robin French for BBC Three. Greg Davies plays Ken Thompson, an overprotective father whose daughter Rachel (Esther Smith) has impulsively married an American hippie on her gap year. Helen Baxendale plays Lorna Thompson, Ken's wife, who is caught between her husband's suspicion and the chaos around her, while Tyger Drew-Honey plays their son Dylan. The engine of the show is the collision between Ken's rigid, conventional view of family and the outlandish New Age ideas of Cuckoo, the slacker son-in-law played by Andy Samberg, who arrives in the house and refuses to leave. Each thirty-minute episode is built from small domestic escalations: a failed scheme, a spiritual pitch gone wrong, a dinner table turned into a battlefield. The show runs across five seasons and is a single continuing family story rather than a case-of-the-week format. Its tone is cringe comedy with warmth underneath, sharp in its satire of self-help culture and affectionate toward a household that keeps reconciling despite itself. Fans of The Royle Family, Outnumbered and Ghosts will find resonance in its domestic awkwardness and ensemble affection.

## Shows like Cuckoo

- [Man Down (2013)](https://ember.film/tv/46811)
- [Uncle (2014)](https://ember.film/tv/55217)
- [Man Vs Bee (2022)](https://ember.film/tv/123469)
- [The Mick (2017)](https://ember.film/tv/58643)
- [Undeclared (2001)](https://ember.film/tv/3756)
- [Breeders (2020)](https://ember.film/tv/78918)
- [Free Bert (2026)](https://ember.film/tv/1105145)
- [You, Me and the Apocalypse (2015)](https://ember.film/tv/55524)
- [Alice and Steve (2026)](https://ember.film/tv/1105067)
- [Outnumbered (2007)](https://ember.film/tv/11925)

---

Site overview: https://ember.film/llms.txt