Two Weeks To Live
Year: 2020
Created by: Al Campbell
Starring: Sian Clifford, Taheen Modak, Mawaan Rizwan & Maisie Williams
Episodes: 6
BBFC: 15
Published: 23/09/20
Created by: Al Campbell
Starring: Sian Clifford, Taheen Modak, Mawaan Rizwan & Maisie Williams
Episodes: 6
BBFC: 15
Published: 23/09/20
In 2017 Channel 4 created End of the Fucking World, a 6 part series of 20 minute episodes about two teenagers who accidentally (on purpose) murder someone and go on the run. It was brilliant, utterly fantastic and so was its second series in 2019. But it seemed somewhat of an oddity and perhaps that’s what made it so special, because there was nothing else quite like it with its graphic violence, bleak humour, and fascinating characters.
So it appears that Sky have brought a new challenger to the table with their new 6 part series of 25 minute episodes called Two Weeks To Live. It’s pretty good to be honest.
Kim (Maisie Williams) has been raised in the woods by her mum away from society. She doesn’t understand how the real world works, and believes that everything is dangers and people are idly sitting by for the end of the world to happen. When she turns 18 she decides she’s going to go on a road trip with her dad’s ashes, without her mum, and experience the world where her dad grew up. Meet some people, experience some new things, and then return to her life as a survivalist. She has a list of things she’d like to do and one of them is go to a pub, and it just so happens that when she is there she meets Nicky (Mawaan Rizwan), a university English graduate who has absolutely no social skills, and his brother Jay (Taheen Modak), a fish counter worker who has aspirations of becoming a landscaper, and is generally a bit dim. In a prank, Jay convinces Kim that the world will end in two weeks; panicked Kim runs away and enters a confrontation with a local gangster who it is revealed is her father’s killer. When Kim’s mum, Tina, shows up and finds her daughter, the two boys, a dead body, and a bag containing £50,000, the quartet go on the run from some crooked police officers who want the money for themselves.
So it appears that Sky have brought a new challenger to the table with their new 6 part series of 25 minute episodes called Two Weeks To Live. It’s pretty good to be honest.
Kim (Maisie Williams) has been raised in the woods by her mum away from society. She doesn’t understand how the real world works, and believes that everything is dangers and people are idly sitting by for the end of the world to happen. When she turns 18 she decides she’s going to go on a road trip with her dad’s ashes, without her mum, and experience the world where her dad grew up. Meet some people, experience some new things, and then return to her life as a survivalist. She has a list of things she’d like to do and one of them is go to a pub, and it just so happens that when she is there she meets Nicky (Mawaan Rizwan), a university English graduate who has absolutely no social skills, and his brother Jay (Taheen Modak), a fish counter worker who has aspirations of becoming a landscaper, and is generally a bit dim. In a prank, Jay convinces Kim that the world will end in two weeks; panicked Kim runs away and enters a confrontation with a local gangster who it is revealed is her father’s killer. When Kim’s mum, Tina, shows up and finds her daughter, the two boys, a dead body, and a bag containing £50,000, the quartet go on the run from some crooked police officers who want the money for themselves.
The story feels as though it’s trying a little too hard to be End of the Fucking World, with nearly the same premise but just with more characters and more action sequences. That’s not an entirely bad thing because overall the show is very enjoyable, the jokes are funny, the action sequences are well done, and the performances are good. But it does feel like it’s living in the shadow of the very thing it’s trying to compete against.
Maisie Williams provides the best performance in the series as Kim, and her on screen chemistry with Mawaan Rizan’s Nicky is worth watching the show for by its own merits. The two have this will they, wont they, relationship going on but thanks to Kim’s lack of knowledge of how the world works, and Nicky’s inability to get his way through a sentence without making himself look like an idiot makes some fantastic viewing.
I do wonder whether I got a bit more mileage out of the show because it was filmed almost entirely in the area where I grew up. Seeing these locations I knew so well was strange and obviously not something everyone will experience, but even one of the houses the characters’ lives in is just a two minute walk from my childhood home. But the show does seemingly set up a second series with characters that are seemingly important to the plot not appearing in person, and a few small story threads being left unanswered. The whole thing lasts around 3 hours so can be done in a single sitting, or because the episodes are only 25 minutes long they are perfect little time fillers so it won’t take up too much of your time.
Overall I’d say Two Weeks To Live is worth checking out if you like British comedies with a dark side. It’s not as fresh or inventive as End of the Fucking World, but it does have some elements worth checking out. I got through the whole series in two days, mostly in my lunch break at work, so if you’re after something short but sweet it’ll also satisfy your cravings. But it’s a niche appeal that certainly won’t be for everyone.
Maisie Williams provides the best performance in the series as Kim, and her on screen chemistry with Mawaan Rizan’s Nicky is worth watching the show for by its own merits. The two have this will they, wont they, relationship going on but thanks to Kim’s lack of knowledge of how the world works, and Nicky’s inability to get his way through a sentence without making himself look like an idiot makes some fantastic viewing.
I do wonder whether I got a bit more mileage out of the show because it was filmed almost entirely in the area where I grew up. Seeing these locations I knew so well was strange and obviously not something everyone will experience, but even one of the houses the characters’ lives in is just a two minute walk from my childhood home. But the show does seemingly set up a second series with characters that are seemingly important to the plot not appearing in person, and a few small story threads being left unanswered. The whole thing lasts around 3 hours so can be done in a single sitting, or because the episodes are only 25 minutes long they are perfect little time fillers so it won’t take up too much of your time.
Overall I’d say Two Weeks To Live is worth checking out if you like British comedies with a dark side. It’s not as fresh or inventive as End of the Fucking World, but it does have some elements worth checking out. I got through the whole series in two days, mostly in my lunch break at work, so if you’re after something short but sweet it’ll also satisfy your cravings. But it’s a niche appeal that certainly won’t be for everyone.