# Years and Years (2019)

> A British family converges on one crucial night in 2019 and is then followed across the next fifteen years as political and technological upheaval reshapes their lives.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/73985

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 6
- Episode runtime: 60 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: drama, science fiction
- Network: BBC One
- Cast: Emma Thompson, Anne Reid, Rory Kinnear, Jessica Hynes, Russell Tovey, Ruth Madeley, T'Nia Miller, Sharon Duncan-Brewster
- TMDB rating: 8.2/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8694364/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: strong
- Complexity: layered
- Violence: mild
- Tone: bleak, satirical, intimate, contemplative, hopeful

## What critics say

Critics and audiences broadly acclaim the miniseries for its ambitious, politically charged vision of near-future Britain and its emotionally grounded family drama.

## Synopsis

Years and Years (2019) is a British near-future political drama miniseries created for BBC One, following the Lyons family across six hour-long episodes. Emma Thompson plays Vivienne Rook, a charismatic public figure whose rise reshapes the family's orbit, alongside Russell Tovey as Daniel Lyons and Rory Kinnear as Stephen Lyons, with Ruth Madeley, T'Nia Miller and Jessica Hynes filling out the household. The engine of the series is ordinary people trying to keep their routines, marriages and money intact while the country lurches through economic strain, political populism, border crises and rapid technological change. Each episode jumps forward through the years, so the family's everyday choices, arguments and small acts of hope accumulate into a portrait of how public events seep into private life. Set in northern England and across a fifteen-year horizon, the tone blends bleak social realism with sharp political satire and warm domestic intimacy. Fans of Black Mirror, The Handmaid's Tale and The Crown will find resonance in its plausible near-future dread, its frank political commentary and its focus on a single sprawling family. The miniseries is contemplative and provocative, with mature language and sexual content in its frank adult storytelling.

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