Youth Review: Age Is Just a Number

Youth | Creator: Sharon Horgan | Cast: Sharon Horgan, Rupert Friend, Sharlene Whyte, Aran Murphy | English | HBO

Sharon Horgan is the queen of ageing angst. She treats it with a mix of humour and disdain, keeping the pity party at bay. Alex (Horgan) is a single mother whose son, Ruari (played by Aran Murphy who looks exactly like his dad Cillian), is preparing to go to university, and whose ex-husband is moving to Canada to star in a sci-fi series. She is a publishing executive who has to read manuscripts with the same care as she studies the movements of her boss’ husband. She also has a handsome on-off lover who is as willing to make her soup as he is to wipe her tears. She is suspicious of such excessive affection, accustomed as she is to navigating life on her own. She struggles with a diabetic mother, a son who has dropped out of college to try his luck at stand-up, and her natural urge for sex, which she has not had for four years.

Horgan writes her own material so there is great authenticity and singularity in her voice. Add to that cameos, big and small, by stars such Damian Lewis (as himself) and Rupert Friend (as her sometime lover Patrick), and the male-o-metre of the show is excellent.