In 2019, this British series predicted several events that ultimately happened. It is available free of charge in France.
“An anxiety-provoking world” for Libération, “a dark and distressing future” according to Télé-Loisirs… In 2019, this series which described a frightening near future was as much acclaimed by critics as it terrified the public, as if to warn the viewers and give him the keys to prevent such a future from happening. However, it is clear that five years later, Years and Years remains more relevant than ever.
Written by Russell T. Davies (It’s a Sin, Doctor Who), this series follows a British family in the near future, whose lives are turned upside down over fifteen years by world political events. Considered the best series of 2019 by the press, it is a must-see dystopia as it deciphers with precision and finesse the excesses of technology, populism (Emma Thompson plays a terrifying Prime Minister), but also the dramatic consequences of wars and migration crises.
When we look Years and Years five years after its release, we can only be surprised to discover how right the series was. Already acclaimed for its powerful writing of an unenviable future, it illustrates to what extent Russell T. Davies had anticipated certain events… which did indeed happen.
If some are trivial, like the dress worn a few years later by Prime Minister Liz Truss (strangely resembling that of Emma Thompson in a scene from the series), others are more edifying: fiction already imagined in 2019 that a global pandemic was going to affect the world (just before Covid-19), the death of Queen Elizabeth II (which took place in 2022), the invasion of Ukraine by Russia (in 2022), the economic recession and record inflation that followed, but also the coming to power of populist and ultra-conservative leaders.
“I have always been told that my stories were improbable, and now one of them, written precisely to express how crazy I find our times, is considered visionary. What a sweet irony!”, reacted the showrunner at the microphone of Télérama in March 2021. If you missed this television gem, we recommend that you catch up quickly. Especially since it’s free: Years and Years is available free of charge from October 29 on france.tv, before being broadcast on France 2 on November 6.