''Flowers'' is a British

black comedy Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to disc ...

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has b ...

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ...

written by

Will Sharpe William Tomomori Fukuda Sharpe (born 22 September 1986) is an English actor, writer, and director. He is known for writing, directing, and starring in the 2016 dark comedy-drama ''Flowers''. He starred in the drama series ''Giri/Haji'' and the s ...

and starring

Olivia Colman Sarah Caroline Sinclair ( Colman; born 30 January 1974), known professionally as Olivia Colman, is an English actress. Known for her comedic and dramatic roles in film and television, she has received various accolades, including an Academy A ...

and

Julian Barratt Julian Barratt Pettifer (born 4 May 1968) is an English comedian, actor and musician. As a comedian and comic actor, he is known for his use of surreal humour and black comedy. During the 2000s he was part of The Mighty Boosh comedy troupe along ...

. It was commissioned by the British broadcaster

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

, in association with the American TV streaming service Seeso. The first series premiered in the U.K. with two episodes on 25 April 2016 and was broadcast daily during the week, ending on 29 April. In the United States, all 6 episodes were released online on 5 May 2016. The series concluded with a second series following the same pattern, premiering with two episodes on 11 June 2018, in the UK, followed by an episode daily during that week.

Synopsis

The series follows the Flowers family, consisting of depressed father and

children's author Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. Modern children's literature is classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader. Children's ...

Maurice (Barratt); music teacher wife Deborah (Colman), their 25-year-old twin children: inventor son Donald ( Daniel Rigby) and musician daughter Amy (

Sophia Di Martino Sophia Di Martino (born 15 November 1983) is an English actress known for portraying Sylvie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe television series ''Loki''. Early life and education Di Martino was born in Nottingham and grew up in the suburb of ...

); Maurice's senile mother Hattie ( Leila Hoffman); and Maurice's Japanese illustrator Shun (Sharpe).

Cast

as Deborah Flowers *

as Maurice Flowers *

as Shun *

Colin Hurley Collin Hurley (born 1957) is an English actor and a former member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, the National Theatre, and the Shakespeare's Globe company, specialising in performing the works of William Shakespeare. Early career Born in ...

as Barry * Daniel Rigby as Donald Flowers *

as Amy Flowers * Leila Hoffman as Hattie Flowers *

Georgina Campbell Georgina Alice Campbell (born 12 June 1992) is an English actress and model. She won the 2015 BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress for '' Murdered by My Boyfriend'' (2014). Her other television credits include ''Flowers'' (2016), ''Broadchurch'' (20 ...

as Abigail (series 1) * Angus Wright as George (series 1) *

Harriet Walter Dame Harriet Mary Walter (born 24 September 1950) is a British actress. She has received a Laurence Olivier Award as well as numerous nominations including for a Tony Award, three Primetime Emmy Awards, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. In 2011 ...

as Hylda (series 2)

Episodes

Series overview

Series 1 (2016)

Series 2 (2018)

In May 2018, Channel 4 released a trailer for the second series of the show. It began broadcasting with two episodes on 11 June 2018.

DVD

The complete series 1 was released on DVD in June 2016 by Dazzler Media, while the complete second series was released on DVD in September 2018.

Reception

Reviews for the series were positive.

Review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

rated it 100% "fresh" based on 10 reviews. ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

'' praised the series and called it "a gloriously dark sitcom about depression and rage". ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' also reviewed it positively saying, "''Flowers'' isn't really about any particular story. It's a portrait – a weird,

Edward Gorey Edward St. John Gorey (February 22, 1925 – April 15, 2000) was an American writer, Tony Award-winning costume designer, and artist, noted for his own illustrated books as well as cover art and illustration for books by other writers. Hi ...

-like portrait of a family with loves, suspicions and insecurities, perhaps not all that different from yours, after all." Reception of the second series was similarly positive, once again garnering a 100% "fresh" score on

based on 9 reviews. Writing for ''

'', Sam Wollaston awarded four stars out of five, stating: "The second series of Will Sharpe’s deeply imaginative comedy drama has been serious and sensitive in its handling of difficult issues, and hilarious to boot."

Accolades

References

External links

* {{Seeso original programming 2016 British television series debuts 2018 British television series endings 2010s British black comedy television series 2010s British comedy-drama television series 2010s British LGBT-related comedy television series 2010s British LGBT-related drama television series 2010s British sitcoms British LGBT-related sitcoms Channel 4 comedy dramas English-language television shows Lesbian-related television shows Television about mental health Seeso original programming Television series about dysfunctional families Television series about marriage Television series about twins Television series by Endemol Works about depression