Patrick Melrose

Patrick Melrose is the kind of character-driven story that stays with you. It is currently available in Australia on Hoopla, and in the US on Hoopla, so there is no reason to keep putting it off. An 8/10 rating means the audience agrees — and those who disagree tend to be in a clear minority. The production does not waste your time: every episode earns its place in the run, and the pacing is calibrated to keep you watching rather than checking how much time is left. The run length is exactly right for the story being told. Benedict Cumberbatch is the anchor, but the depth of the supporting cast is what elevates it. Start it tonight and see for yourself why the ratings are where they are.

Patrick Melrose follows a path that stands out in a crowded field. A critical and often humorous look at the upper class, tracking the protagonist's harrowing odyssey from a deeply traumatic childhood through adult substance abuse and, ultimately, toward recovery. Benedict Cumberbatch and Jennifer Jason Leigh lead a cast that brings real weight to the material. It aired in 2018. The writing trusts the audience to sit with ambiguity rather than wrapping every episode in a tidy conclusion — it is the approach that separates good drama from great.

If you are looking for television that takes its characters seriously and rewards patient viewing, Patrick Melrose is exactly that. One of the more rewarding dramas of its era. The structure gives the show room to develop relationships over time in a way that episodic television rarely manages, and the writers take full advantage of that space. Fans of Run Away will find the same commitment to character here, with its own distinct sensibility and setting. Worth starting sooner rather than later — the earlier you get to it, the longer you will have to think about it.