# After Life (2019)

> A grieving local newspaper journalist lashes out at everyone around him after his wife's death, while searching for a reason to keep living.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/68362

## Facts

- Seasons: 3
- Episodes: 18
- Episode runtime: 30 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: comedy, drama
- Created by: Ricky Gervais
- Network: Netflix
- Cast: Ricky Gervais, Tom Basden, Kerry Godliman, David Bradley, Joe Wilkinson, Roisin Conaty, Tony Way, Paul Kaye
- TMDB rating: 8.4/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8398600/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: strong
- Complexity: accessible
- Violence: mild
- Tone: bleak, tragicomic, raw, humane, caustic, tender

## What critics say

Audiences broadly acclaim After Life for its raw, emotionally honest portrayal of grief and for the way its dark comedy stays rooted in human pain.

## Synopsis

After Life (2019-2022) is a British dark comedy drama series created by Ricky Gervais for Netflix. Ricky Gervais plays Tony, a local newspaper journalist whose wife Lisa (Kerry Godliman) has died, leaving him raw, bitter and unafraid to say whatever he likes to anyone. His colleagues at the paper, including Matt (Tom Basden) and the photographer Lenny (Tony Way), keep him tethered to daily life, while Tony's father Ray (David Bradley) and the cheerful Kath (Diane Morgan) offer him ordinary kindness he often rejects. Each episode follows Tony's small acts of cruelty, his visits to a therapist (Paul Kaye) and the everyday encounters of a provincial English town, all of it shaped by the question of whether a man who wants to end his life can find a reason to keep going. Across three seasons of six half-hour episodes, the show stays on a single continuing thread, moving between laughter and real sorrow. The tone is raw, humane and often painfully funny, with a grounded, observational feel. Fans of Fleabag, Louie and Enlightened will find resonance in its blend of caustic humour and tender grief.

## Shows like After Life

- [Back to Life (2019)](https://ember.film/tv/75133)
- [Sick Note (2017)](https://ember.film/tv/63058)
- [Rain Dogs (2023)](https://ember.film/tv/137107)
- [Him & Her (2010)](https://ember.film/tv/31142)
- [Mum (2016)](https://ember.film/tv/58530)
- [Toast of London (2013)](https://ember.film/tv/54756)
- [This Way Up (2019)](https://ember.film/tv/77704)
- [Derek (2013)](https://ember.film/tv/54140)
- [Saxondale (2006)](https://ember.film/tv/2383)
- [Life's Too Short (2011)](https://ember.film/tv/35190)

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