Review: ‘Breeders’ is a brutally honest take on parenthood, but will it lose its edge?

We had high hopes for the show, but it seems 'Breeders' might eventually become like the formulaic sitcom that its pilot seemed to be the antithesis of

Daisy Haggard and Martin Freeman star in the unconventional family sitcom. Courtesy BBC

It felt inevitable that Martin Freeman would end up leading his own sitcom. Freeman's work as Tim Canterbury in The Office, John Watson in Sherlock, Bilbo Baggins in the Hobbit trilogy and Arthur Dent in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy proved long ago that he could bring the adroit comedic timing and dramatic heft required to excel in the genre to any everyman role.

At the same time, though, there's always been a brooding dark side bubbling underneath Freeman's performances. Most of the time he has had to keep this anger dormant, allowing it to emerge only in the very British fashion of exaggerated gestures, deep exhalation and prolonged thousand-yard stares to nowhere.

Breeders at last gives Freeman the chance to fly off the handle and let his ire surface, while still also allowing him to tap into the appeal that has made him so popular for close to 20 years. But rather than screaming and venting his fury at a villain you want to see defeated, Freeman's Paul takes his indignation out on his two young children, 7-year-old Luke and Ava, 4. Which isn't so great.

Paul doesn't merely get a tad angry at his offspring, only to then instantly apologise, though. As Breeders' first scene shows, he gets genuinely furious with his young children, to the point of screaming expletives at them before he returns to being overwhelmed by everyday life.

This opening is so startling that the more it unfolds, the more surreal and dreamlike it feels. To the point that, when it's revealed to have actually happened, you're actually a little shocked that a sitcom showed its patriarch speaking to his children in this fashion. This only increases in the following scene, where Paul succinctly tells his wife Ally, played by Daisy Haggard, "I would die for those kids. But often I also want to kill them."

Haggard is the perfect sparring partner for Freeman's twisted brand of dark comedy, and immediately shows that, if the worst comes to the worst and the show starts to underwhelm, Breeders will at least be able to coast on their patter. Which is unfortunately where we assume it might be headed.
Thankfully, there's much more to the show's pilot, entitled No Sleep, than Freeman and Haggard's back and forth, though.

After establishing Ally and Paul's unique brand of parenting, the episode then shows the pair enduring a string of sleepless nights as Ava and a constantly terrified Luke insist on staying awake until the early morning. It's a simple enough premise, but, aided by a series of flashbacks and the revelation that Paul is fully aware that parenthood has made him "nasty", Freeman and Haggard manage to inject an authenticity into it that makes each failure and success feel particularly pointed and triumphant. Sure, some of Ally and Paul's interactions with their kids might put more sensitive and delicate viewers off. But those who are willing to accept that they've either thought or acted in a similarly volatile fashion will find the show both hilarious and comforting.

Breeders' honest approach to the frustrations that parents genuinely think and feel from time to time feels especially refreshing and prescient, too. Not only because it reflects the furore of Brexit Britain, but people's most extreme thoughts and fears are now aired hourly on social media. But while the pilot No Sleep has Freeman effortlessly shining as Paul, which makes sense considering that Breeders was dreamt up by him, with The Thick of It's Chris Addison and Simon Blackwell helping to expand the idea as the show's other co-creators, its follow-up, No Places, disappointingly moves away from its acerbic tone.

Instead, the introduction of Ally's estranged father, who is played by the always glorious Michael McKean, Paul's stagnation at work and struggles with his own parents as they dream of entering a nursing home, and then Paul and Ally meddling with an infuriatingly perfect couple from down the street, makes Breeders feel more like the formulaic sitcom that its pilot seemed to be the antithesis of.

Even then, though, Haggard and Freeman's spark, and the exploration of their own resentments means the episode still has an edge and depth that is seldom seen in other shows of this ilk, while the appearance of McKean suggests that he is about to become Breeders' bona fide scene-stealer. That should be more than enough to make Breeders enjoyable for the remainder of its 10-episode first season. But whether or not it will be able to build upon and eclipse its pilot is now up in the air.

Breeders will be available on Hulu and Sky One from Friday