''Marriage'' is a 2022 British

television drama In film and television show, television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or docudrama, semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humour, humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional te ...

series, starring

Nicola Walker Nicola Jane Walker (born 15 May 1970) is an English actress, known for her starring roles in various British television programmes from the 1990s onwards, including that of Ruth Evershed in the spy drama '' Spooks'' (2003–2006 and 2009–201 ...

and

Sean Bean Sean Bean (born Shaun Mark Bean; 17 April 1959) is an English actor. After graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, he made his professional debut in a production of ''Romeo and Juliet'' in 1983 at The Watermill Theatre. Retaining his ...

as a married couple in a long term domestic relationship. It was created, written and directed by Stefan Golaszewski. The four-part series opened on 14 August 2022 on BBC One. It was simultaneously made available in full to stream, on

BBC iPlayer BBC iPlayer (stylised as iPLAYER or BBC iPLAYER) is a video on demand service from the BBC. The service is available Over-the-top media service, over-the-top on a wide range of devices, including Mobile phone, mobile phones and Tablet computer ...

Cast

as Ian, Emma's husband who has recently been made redundant *

as Emma, Ian's wife who is a solicitor *Chantelle Alle as Jessica, Ian and Emma's adoptive daughter and a singer *

Henry Lloyd-Hughes Henry Alexander Lloyd-Hughes is an English actor. He is known for his roles in ''Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire'' (2005), '' Unrelated'' (2007), ''The Inbetweeners'' (2008–2010), '' Miliband of Brothers'' (2010), '' Weekender'' (2011), ' ...

as Jamie, Emma's boss * Jack Holden as Adam, Jessica's abusive boyfriend and a record producer *

James Bolam James Christopher Bolam (born 16 June 1935) is an English actor. He is best known for his roles as Terry Collier in '' The Likely Lads'' and its sequel ''Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?'', Jack Ford in ''When the Boat Comes In'', Roy Fig ...

as Gerry, Emma's father *Makir Ahmed as Mike, Emma's colleague *

Kath Hughes Kath Hughes is a Welsh actress, writer and comedian. She is known for portraying the role of Coleen in the British comedy drama series '' After Life'' and for being part of the comedy sketch groups Gein's Family Giftshop and Tarot. Life and c ...

as Claire, Emma's colleague *Ella Augustin as Maxine, an employee at the local leisure centre *Hector Hewer as Kieran, an employee at the local leisure centre *Shona McHugh as Emily, an employee at Jamie's company who is on work experience *Kemal Sylvester as Paul, Emma's brother *Miles Barrow as Mark, a restaurant employee who befriends Jessica

Production

In September 2021, it was announced that the BBC had commissioned Golaszewski's new drama, starring Walker and Bean. It was a co-production between The Forge and The Money Men, in association with All3Media International. The theme tune is " Partita for 8 Voices: No 1, Allemande", an a cappella work by the American composer

Caroline Shaw Caroline Adelaide Shaw (born August 1, 1982) is an American composer of contemporary classical music, violinist, and singer. She won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Music for her a cappella piece '' Partita for 8 Voices''. Shaw received the 2022 G ...

Episode list

Reception

The series received mostly very good reviews from critics, and mixed reviews from viewers. ''The Telegraph'' praised the first episode and gave it five out of five stars. Ben East of ''Metro'', similarly, praised the first episode and gave it four stars. Rebecca Nicholson for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' gave the first episode four out of five stars, remarking, 'There is a pitch-perfect realism to the way these characters talk without really saying anything, then put across what they really mean while saying nothing at all. It’s so cleverly done.' By contrast, Nick Hilton, writing for ''The Independent'', gave ''Marriage'' two out of five stars, adding that the show would "bore you to tears".

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 15483452 2022 British television series debuts 2022 British television series endings 2020s British drama television series 2020s British television miniseries British English-language television shows Television series by Banijay