Wow, this new show looks next-level intense – and I effin’ love it.

Directed by Edward Berger of Deutchland 83 fame, Patrick Melrose is a dramatic watch. From the trailer alone, we can tell Benedict Cumberbatch, who’s already gone to the dark side playing Shere Khan in Mowgli, really turns it out as the titular character who struggles to overcome the damage inflicted by his newly-deceased abusive father [portrayed by Hugo Weaving] when he was a kid.

Adapted from the five autobiographical novels of Edward St Aubyn, it promises to be an epic saga that compasses the South of France in the 1960s, New York in the 1980s, and Britain in the early 2000s.

The first episode covers two days in 1982 in New York, with flashbacks to Melrose’s miserable childhood that is explored in excruciating detail in future episodes, reports The Guardian.

Take a look at the trailer to get the ball rolling:

Are you sold like I am?

With other stars like Jennifer Jason Leigh (who plays Melrose’s spaced out mother who condoned her hubby’s abusive behaviour), Celia Imrie and Anna Madely rounding out the cast, how can you not be excited?

Just from the first episode alone, The Guardian has called Patrick Melrose a “triumph”:

[Writer David Nicholls] must take some credit for managing to boil down five books into five hours of television without losing flavour. I have seen three, each of which has a distinct character that has a lot to do with where and when it is set, yet they nod to each other and belong together, like movements in a symphony. The dialogue (much of which is Melrose in conversation with himself) is sharp; this is tight, intelligent adaptation.

And of course, they lived for Cumberbatch’s performance:

[Cumberbatch] had always wanted the part, he told the Radio Times, which might have been problematic, made it a vehicle for his talents and range: look at me acting, now shower me with awards.

Maybe there is a bit of that going on. But it also means he has a deep understanding of the character. He hits just the right note: hilarious, but also tragic, irritating, exasperating. It is addiction personified, sympathetic without being celebratory or glamorised. So, do look at him – it is impossible not to – and shower him with awards. He is, and it is, brilliant.

And seeing Cumberbatch shirtless doesn’t hurt, either.

If you’re keen on watching the Cumberbatch Show – er, I mean Patrick Melrose – let the binge begin.

[source:guardian]