Life After Life (TV series)

Life After Life is a 2022 British television series created by playwright Bash Doran that adapts the 2013 novel Life After Life by Kate Atkinson. It follows the story of Ursula Todd, a woman in the first half of the 20th century who experiences an endless cycle of birth, death, and rebirth.

The protagonist Ursula Todd dies one night in 1910 before she can draw her first breath. On that same night, she is reborn and survives. Living and dying in different circumstances time and again, Ursula is reborn into new and alternative lives. The story follows Ursula as she navigates each life through a critical era that spans two world wars.

Background
The BBC commissioned a four-part adaptation of the novel Life After Life in December 2020. In April 2021, it was announced that Thomasin McKenzie and Sian Clifford would star in the series alongside James McArdle, Jessica Brown Findlay, and Jessica Hynes with Patsy Ferran, Harry Michell, Laurie Kynaston, Joshua Hill, and Maria Laird completing the cast. The series began broadcast on 19 April 2022 on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer.

Reception
A review in The Guardian described the series as an appealing, emotional drama but somewhat lacking in overall narrative and resolution commenting that "The show's main priority is apparent from the start: making people cry. If you like the feeling of being overwhelmed by vicarious trauma and grief then you're in for a treat. And the anguish is thoroughly addictive. It's what makes Life After Life incredibly compelling, binge-worthy even, despite being practically plotless from one episode to the next." Another review in The Telegraph praised the adaptation's truthfulness to the original story describing it as a "gorgeously-realised and entirely faithful adaptation of Kate Atkinson’s 2013 bestseller."

A Radio Times review was complimentary of the series summarising that "Life After Life combines much of what appeals to British viewing audiences – a rose-tinted English countryside of old, a wartime setting, a stellar cast – but with its mind-bending, time-looping twist, it is entirely its own beast." A mixed review by Gerard Gilbert on iNews described the drama as "overcomplicated" but concluded that the "handsome production was bolstered by strong performances. The first episode eventually overcame its tricky structure to suggest that there might yet be life in Life After Life."