Yahoo News Baptiste star explains that divorce drama Us "feels very true"
The cast of new BBC series Us have opened-up about the family drama, with star Tom Hollander explaining why it may surprise viewers.
The four-part series follows the Baptiste star's character Douglas Petersen, wife Connie (Saskia Reeves) and son Albie (Tom Taylor) after Connie tells Douglas that she is not sure she wants to be married to him anymore.
Opening-up to Digital Spy and other media about the show, Hollander explained that it may feel "very true" to viewers.
"People do sometimes just – we all live long enough these days, lots of people live long enough to want other chapters, and so it's a story about that rather than some scandalous betrayal or some terrible moment in which one person let the other person down," he said.
"It's worse than that because it's so normal, so ordinary, though it asks you to engage with that as a possibility.
"There's nothing melodramatic," Hollander continued. "It goes through the detail of who they used to be, and you see the journey that these two people have gone on and who they've become, and how those things mean that what was right for them once isn't necessarily right for them now.
"Because something is ending, it doesn't mean it's the end of everything seems to be the moral of the story."
Taylor also spoke about the comedy aspect of the story, noting: "Sometimes some people can't take situations without maybe having a little joke, and you get to see that in the show. It's not all super dark and moody and miserable because you do get little moments of comedy in everyday life, so it reflects that very well."
"I think it's [important that we see a woman wanting a divorce]," Reeves added. "That's what makes it such a successful book. [Writer] David [Nicholls]'s written this story about the breakup of a marriage and it's the wife trying to spread her wings, trying to run away from getting older.
"I think that's what makes it refreshing, because it's from an unusual point of view or from a point of view that doesn't often get seen."
Hollander went on to describe it as a "male-centred story", Reeves saying that "none of the characters are conventional".
"Douglas is not your conventional – they're not a conventional husband and wife," she said. "Sometimes they almost swap roles or stereotypes."
Us premieres on Sunday (September 20) on BBC One at 9pm.
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