The Virtues

Joseph falls into despair when his nine-year-old son Shea leaves for Australia with his ex Debbie. Suffering the hangover from hell, he walks away from his present life and boards a boat bound for Ireland to confront memories from his childhood.

The Virtues (2019) is a British four-episode miniseries created by Shane Meadows for Channel 4. Stephen Graham plays Joseph, a man sinking into alcoholic despair after his nine-year-old son Shea leaves for Australia with his ex Debbie (Juliet Ellis). Rather than face his present, Joseph walks away from his life and boards a boat to Ireland to confront memories from his childhood. Niamh Algar plays Dinah, one of the people who shape his return, and Helen Behan and Niamh Cusack appear among the principal cast. The engine of the story is a man trying to outrun his own wounds while the past closes in on him, with each episode weaving present-day confrontation and reckoning with earlier scenes of hardship. The miniseries moves at a measured pace, building slowly toward a tense, emotionally harrowing final stretch. Its tone is raw, intimate and unflinching, mixing grief, shame and fragile hope in a grounded British kitchen sink register. Shane Meadows's gritty, character-driven approach will appeal to fans of This Is England and Shameless, and viewers who want an unsparing human drama about family damage and the search for redemption. It is a story of a single arc told in four hours, not a case-of-the-week format.

Viewers broadly rate the miniseries positively, praising its tense, emotionally raw handling of trauma and Stephen Graham's performance, while acknowledging it is harrowing to watch.

• This Is Englandshared raw working-class British family drama with addiction and trauma at its core
• Shameless (UK)shared intimate character-driven drama about a fractured man confronting his past through slow-burn emotional tension
• Good Girls Revoltshared bleak, unflinching portrayal of alcoholism and childhood trauma in a single emotional arc

Created by

Shane Meadows

Release Date

2019-05-15

Episode runtime

45 min

Rating

8.1 / 10 (69)

What is The Virtues about?

A despairing father abandons his life and sails to Ireland to confront the childhood trauma he has never faced.

What is The Virtues like to watch?

Ember's analysis rates the pacing of The Virtues as measured, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as layered.

Is The Virtues violent?

Somewhat. Ember rates the violence in The Virtues as moderate.

What did critics think of The Virtues?

Viewers broadly rate the miniseries positively, praising its tense, emotionally raw handling of trauma and Stephen Graham's performance, while acknowledging it is harrowing to watch.

Which shows are like The Virtues?

Shows with a similar feel include This Is England, Shameless (UK), and Good Girls Revolt.

How long is The Virtues?

The Virtues: 1 season, 4 episodes.

Is The Virtues still running?

No, The Virtues has ended.