A ‘terrifying’ BBC dystopian drama, which has been likened to modern day life in Britain has been hailed a ‘much watch’ by fans with the show now being more relevant than ever. Years and Years, created by Doctor Who writer Russell T Davies, first hit BBC screens in 2019 featuring a star studded cast including Emma Thompson, Rory Kinnear, Russell Tovey, Lydia West and Jessica Hynes.
The programme follows a family in Manchester as they adapt to the world around them changing in horrifying ways they can’t control from living through a migrant crisis, technology taking over, and politicians at their very worst. Set over the course of a 15-year period, it brings some horrifying scenarios to life, with viewers confessing the programme left them heartbroken and in tears.
Portraying the role of a ring-wing politician, Emma’s character Vivienne is seen in the opening episode saying she “doesn’t give a f**k” about the Israel-Palestine conflict, and goes on to debate whether or not voters should be required to take IQ tests. One storyline follows a refugee fleeing persecution in Ukraine, only to be deported from the UK after staying in migrant cramps.
Before the true treatment of those living in those camps is exposed, Years and Years details the awful journey desperate people in small boats make to cross the Channel.
The scenes are particularly poignant right now given that Nigel Farage is threatening to deport illegal migrants while far-right protests erupt across the country over hotels housing asylum seekers.
Another storyline shows a teen wanting to identify as transhuman and turn herself into data, before being given access into what other people can see on their screens and discovering crime through her secret ways.
The series scored a remarkable 89% on Rotten Tomatoes and was haile a ‘must watch’ by fans who watched it in recent months.
One wrote: “Definitely a must-watch! I got so attached to the characters and their story.”
Another added: “One of the most brilliant series I’ve ever seen”.
A third remarked: “This was a fantastic series. I don’t usually like sci-fi or near-future but this was superb. I’m still thinking about it almost 4 years later.”
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Someone else chimed in: “A very realistic and therefore terrifying cautionary tale of where we might be going in the near future. Or, Black Mirror done right.”
Yet another wrote: “Quite simply one of the best things I’ve ever seen. I don’t know how anyone can criticize it at all.
“Not only does it present a scary, near-future scenario that is uncomfortably realistic, but beyond the doom and gloom, it provides realistic hope and beauty at the end. I’m stunned by this series.”
Creator Russell previously revealed how he had been thinking of writing Years and Years for over ten years.
He told the BBC: “It’s been boiling away in my mind for a long time, but over the past few years the world itself seems to have been boiling faster and hotter and wilder than ever.
“I mean, the age, today, just seems fevered – we’re either more political, or more scornful of politics, than ever.
“And I think, in the past, politics meant the economy to most people, but now we’re seeing that it’s our identity at stake.
“So I had to write this fast, before someone else did! And we’re transmitting it as fast as we can before the stuff in the script actually happens!”
He added: “I can guarantee that the real world will always be stranger, madder, darker, but hopefully better than anything we can predict.”
The synopsis for the series reads: “Years and Years, by Russell T Davies, is an epic saga that takes an ordinary family and catapults them through the next 15 years.
“As society changes, faster than ever, the Lyons will experience everything we hope for in the future, and everything we fear.
“They’ll fall in and out of love and grow old, fall apart and come back together, while constantly looking forward.
“Each episode propels us a year or two ahead, following the lives of Daniel, Stephen and his wife Celeste, sisters Rosie and Edith, Gran Muriel and the family’s children, as they navigate a world made unstable by politics, the economy and technological advances.
“Years and Years is about family. It shows how we survive against the backdrop of a political world in which you can’t tell right from left any more.
“The tone is fierce, funny, heartbreaking and, ultimately, shows one family’s determination to survive the future.”
