Sun, sea and resentment

In 1963 Cliff Richard shot to no.1 in the charts with Summer Holiday. On the soundtrack to this feel-good road-trip movie, he sang about how on such a holiday there would be “no more worries for a week or two”.

Yet, as we approach the summer, the BBC’s new drama Two Weeks In August instead offers us an eight-part series giving us a glimpse into the holiday from hell. Described as “sun, sea and suppressed resentment” it provides a darkly tragi-comic depiction of 40-somethings, university friends, on a group holiday, complete with spouses and children alongside singles. It’s been compared to The White Lotus, with its ensemble cast and illicit-time-abroad vibes but this is not the same luxury trip. This group aren’t nearly as affluent, despite their attempts to outsource childcare onto someone else.

Combining social satire and Greek mythology, it doesn’t paint a flattering picture of anyone. The Times promises “you will hate everyone on screen”. Writer Catherine Shepherd involved a psychologist in her creation of the characters to inform what they might be going through – from the gay guy played by Hugh Skinner (W1A, 2026) and his female best friend, utterly reliant on one another though she’s getting resentful, to the actor on his second marriage, and the primary couple, protagonist Zoe and her husband Dan, struggling with business collapse and depression.