Patrick Melrose is a drama television miniseries starring Benedict Cumberbatch in the title role. All five episodes were directed by Edward Berger and written by David Nicholls, who adapted the Patrick Melrose series of semi-autobiographical novels by Edward St Aubyn.
Over five decades from the 1960s to the early 2000s, wealthy Englishman Patrick Melrose attempts to overcome his addictions and demons rooted in abuse by his cruel father and negligent mother.
It was announced in February 2017 that Benedict Cumberbatch would star in and produce a television adaptation of Edward St AubynâÂÂs Patrick Melrose book series, that would air on Showtime in the United States and Sky Atlantic in the United Kingdom. David Nicholls wrote the five episodes of the series, with Edward Berger directing. In July, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Hugo Weaving joined as PatrickâÂÂs mother and father, and Anna Madeley was cast as PatrickâÂÂs wife. Allison Williams and Blythe Danner joined in August 2017, with filming begun by October in Glasgow.
The first trailer debuted in April 2018, and the series premiered on May 12 on Showtime. The series consecutively streamed new episodes on CraveTV in Canada. It was shown on Sky Atlantic in the UK, and Sky Vision handled international sales of the series.
The series currently has a 90% score on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, based on 69 critic reviews with an average rating of 7.9 out of 10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Patrick Melrose is a scathing indictment of British high society's inherited dysfunction, cruelty, and the wealth that enables them. The Crown this ain't." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, gave the film a score of 80 out of 100 based on 32 critics. In 2019, the series was ranked 51st on The Guardian newspaper's list of the 100 best TV shows of the 21st century.