Sharon Horgan plays Alex, a divorced London literary agent who has turned 50 and would quite like to make sex, dating and some form of personal reinvention part of the next decade.
Her family has other ideas. Ruari, played by Aran Murphy, is old enough to be moving into his own life but remains firmly connected to hers. Alex is also dealing with increasingly frail parents. The space she expects to gain in middle age keeps being occupied from both directions.
Horgan has moved her comedy forward with her
That premise fits a pattern running through Horgan's work. Her shows have repeatedly taken whatever stage of adult life is supposed to be manageable and found the part that really is not. Catastrophe turned relationships and parenthood into combustible comedy. Youth has simply reached the next age bracket.
In an interview with The New Yorker, Horgan described the new series as another project influenced by experiences from her own life. Alex is still a fictional character, but the concerns have moved with the writer: getting older, watching children separate from their parents, looking after the generation above them and wondering how much time is left for everything else.
The empty nest is not particularly empty
Aran Murphy's Ruari gives that tension a second perspective. Youth is interested in a mother trying to reclaim part of her identity, but it also keeps returning to a son who is experiencing his own awkward transition into adulthood.
Rupert Friend plays Patrick, while Sharlene Whyte appears as Sam and Robbie Gee as Frank. The romantic side of Alex's story therefore sits inside a much busier family comedy rather than replacing it.
HBO is starting with two episodes
Youth premiered on HBO in the United States on September 20 with Episodes 1 and 2 released together. The first season contains eight episodes, with one new installment following each Sunday through November 1. Episodes are also available on HBO Max.
European HBO Max markets including Spain and the Benelux begin the series on September 21.
This is very much Sharon Horgan's show
Horgan created the series, writes it, stars in it and serves as an executive producer. Merman produces, with Faye Dorn, Jim Kleverweis and director Dawn Shadforth also executive producing.
The setup leaves Alex trying to find a new life at exactly the moment when several people still need pieces of the old one. Youth has eight episodes to see how much room she can actually claim.
