# Patrick Melrose (2018)

> Benedict Cumberbatch plays Patrick Melrose, a wealthy Englishman whose traumatic childhood drives him through adult addiction toward a fragile recovery.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/63436

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 5
- Episode runtime: 60 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: drama
- Created by: David Nicholls
- Network: Showtime
- Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Hugo Weaving, Sebastian Maltz, Jessica Raine, Jennifer Armour, Allison Williams, Richard Brake
- TMDB rating: 8.0/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6586318/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: strong
- Complexity: layered
- Violence: mild
- Tone: darkly comic, harrowing, sardonic, cutting, melancholic

## What critics say

Critics and viewers broadly admire the acting and the sharp blend of dark humor and harrowing material in this adaptation of Edward St Aubyn's novels.

## Synopsis

Patrick Melrose (2018) is a British-set prestige drama miniseries created by David Nicholls for Showtime, adapted from the novel series by Edward St Aubyn. Benedict Cumberbatch plays Patrick Melrose, a witty, damaged man whose harrowing childhood under a cruel aristocratic father, David Melrose (Hugo Weaving), and a careless, icy mother, Eleanor Melrose (Jennifer Jason Leigh), has left him dependent on heroin and alcohol. Across five hour-long episodes the story moves between Patrick as a young boy, played by Sebastian Maltz, and his adult self as he travels through a series of elegant estates, luxury hotels, and dingy London flats, chasing oblivion and seeking any escape from the memories he cannot silence. Each episode is built around a single crisis, a bender, a dinner party, a funeral, or a trip to claim an inheritance, with the drama arising from the gap between polished surfaces and private wreckage. The tone is darkly comic and harrowing at once, with cutting dialogue and sharp social observation carrying a deep undercurrent of trauma. Fans of Succession, Mildred Pierce, and The White Lotus will find resonance in its portrait of wealth hiding damage, its unsparing emotional honesty, and its precise, literary sensibility.

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