'Patrick Melrose' News: Benedict Cumberbatch Brings Life to Titular Character in Official Trailer

By Denise See, Christian Post Contributor Tuesday, January 09, 2018

Showtime has released the official trailer for "Patrick Melrose," a limited series starring Benedict Cumberbatch.

The five-part series features Cumberbatch as the titular character, whose life is told from childhood all the way through adulthood, during which he suffers substance abuse and goes through subsequent recovery. It is based on the semi-autobiographical series by Edward St. Aubyn, with each episode exploring one of the five novels.

The upbeat trailer opens with Patrick consecutively downing glasses of wine as the waiter asks whether he will be dining alone. It also gives viewers a glimpse at his childhood, being raised by an abusive father played by Hugo Weaving and a condoning mother played by Jennifer Jason Leigh. Patrick is shown telling a lover that he is going to quit taking drugs, which the girl just laughs at. But, he does make an effort and eventually goes to rehab, where he introduces himself as a "narcissistic, schizoid, suicidal alcoholic."

The limited series will cover Patrick's life through the decades from the 1960s to the early 2000s. It also takes place in three different parts of the world: France, New York, and Britain.

At the recent Television Critics Association press tour, Cumberbatch appeared via satellite and revealed what attracted him to the part of Patrick Melrose, praising St. Aubyn for his "extraordinary prose."

"At its heart the subject matter took something – a world I thought I knew and turned it on its head through the perspective of this really unique character who suffers so much and goes on this extraordinary journey," he said.

The actor continued, "From victim to survivor to champion of his circumstance in a way and via the most richly comic, scalpel-like post-mortem of a class system that is crumbling and the power related to that dissolves as the stories continue."

A co-production between Showtime and Sky Atlantic, "Patrick Melrose" also stars Anna Madeley, Blythe Danner, Allison Williams, Prasanna Puwanarajah, Pip Torrens, Jessica Raine, Indira Varma, Holliday Grainger, and Celia Imrie.

Showtime has yet to announce an air date.