✕ ✕
Turning tips into memories
Login
Signup

You have reached the limit of free articles.


To enjoy unlimited access to Culture Whisper sign up for FREE.
Find out more about Culture Whisper

Please fix the following input errors:

  • dummy

Each week, we send newsletters and communication featuring articles, our latest tickets invitations, and exclusive offers.

Occasional information about discounts, special offers and promotions.


OR
LOG IN

OR
  • LOG IN WITH FACEBOOK

Thanks for signing up to Culture Whisper.
Please check your inbox for a confirmation email and click the link to verify your account.



EXPLORE CULTURE WHISPER
✕ ✕
Turning tips into memories
Login
Signup

Please fix the following input errors:

  • dummy
Forgot your username or password?
Don't have an account? Sign Up

OR
  • LOG IN WITH FACEBOOK

If you click «Log in with Facebook» and are not a Culture Whisper user, you agree to our Terms & Conditions and to our Privacy Policy, which includes our Cookie Use

Support Us Login
  • Home
  • Going Out
    • Things to do
    • Food & Drink
    • Theatre
    • Visual Arts
    • Cinema
    • Kids
    • Festival
    • Gigs
    • Dance
    • Classical Music
    • Opera
    • Immersive
    • Talks
  • Staying In
    • TV
    • Books
    • Cook
    • Podcast
    • Design
    • Netflix
  • Life & Style
    • Beauty
    • Fashion
    • Gifting
    • Wellbeing
    • Lifestyle
    • Shopping
    • Jewellery
  • Explore
  • Shopping
  • CW SHOPS
  • Support Us
  • Get Started
  • Tickets
  • CW SHOPS
Get the Best of London Life, Culture and Style
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).
TV

Finding Alice, ITV review ★★★★★

17 Jan 21 – 17 Jan 22, ON ITV

In this six-part ITV family drama about grief, Keeley Hawes stars as Alice, whose partner Harry suddenly dies. The impact ripples across the family, but Harry had a few secrets…

By Euan Franklin on 15/1/2021

2 CW readers are interested
Keeley Hawes in Finding Alice, ITV (Photo: ITV)
Keeley Hawes in Finding Alice, ITV (Photo: ITV)
Finding Alice, ITV review 4 Finding Alice, ITV review Euan Franklin
Episodes watched: 4 of 6

It could be too much to ask of a viewer in pandemic Britain: to spend several Sunday nights watching a family drama about grief. Considering the number of unexpected deaths that continue to burden the news cycle, wouldn’t something fluffier like Bridgerton help to escape the constant misery?


But shows like Finding Alice are vital to processing and unloading these tough emotions. For anybody who’s ever lost someone and had to endure the entire sordid business, this six-part ITV series provides a warm, sad, and funny embrace.



Alice (Keeley Hawes) with her daughter Charlotte (Isabella Pappas). Photo: ITV

Alice (an always outstanding Keeley Hawes) has recently lost her partner Harry, a property developer who designed their new ‘smart house’. He falls down the stairs, callously constructed without a banister, and dies instantly – leaving Alice and daughter Charlotte (Isabella Pappas) to work through the grief as well as grapple with their new hi-tech home.


Writers Roger Goldby and Simon Nye (The Durrells) open up the struggles to Alice’s vast extended families. And friends, too. Despite the slightly superfluous abundance of characters (some are simply referenced or pushed to the background), they all have their memorable idiosyncrasies. You move through them like a Dickensian sweep.


You have Alice’s parents: a soft Nigel Havers and a venomous Joanna Lumley. And Harry’s parents, played by a Brian Cox-like Kenneth Cranham and an emotionally haunting Gemma Jones. There’s Harry’s cuddly and extroverted sister Nicola (Sharon Rooney). And Harry’s kooky assistant Yasmina (Dominique Moore). Oh, and the amusing morgue-doctor Nathan (Rhashan Stone). And even more.


You’d expect such a populated series to blur into a confusing wave of faces, but they’re a delightful, accessible mix: it's easy to tell one from the other. It shows the eclectic realities of big families as well as the strong ripple-effect any death can have.



Harry's death has a strong ripple-effect across family and friends. Photo: ITV

Alice herself is refreshingly funny, constantly joking to relieve an endlessly bleak situation. Things get worse as Harry’s secrets begin to posthumously invade her life. The police start an inquest, the house could be taken from her, and money’s running short. All of this inevitably affects her relationship with Charlotte, who’s constantly keeping it together for her mum.


There’s also a joyous and liberating non-conformity about her. She dislikes the morbid hubbub of funerals, the religious choreography of the services, the frightening graveyards (‘like a long-stay car park in a really dismal airport’), and even the impersonal, eco-unfriendly coffin. She’s determined to do what Harry would’ve wanted, even though it attracts confusion and judgement from both sets of parents.


Yes, Finding Alice can be overwhelming in its grief and grapples with many kinds. But it can also be cathartically enjoyable, and leaves a twist at the end of each episode. The writers beautifully balance the humour with the harrowing, which slide into each other as often as in life. They deliver a comfort that acknowledges the dark, and then tackles it head-on.


Finding Alice airs on Sunday 17 January at 9pm on ITV.



What Finding Alice, ITV review
When 17 Jan 21 – 17 Jan 22, ON ITV
Price £n/a
Website Click here for more information



Most popular

Things to do in London this weekend: 27–29 January
Things to do in London this weekend: 27–29 January
Harrison Ford in Shrinking, AppleTV+ (Photo: Apple)
What to watch on TV this week
Culture After Dark: The Best Museum Late Night Openings
Culture After Dark: the best museum late-night openings

Editor's Picks

Harrison Ford in Shrinking, AppleTV+ (Photo: Apple)
What to watch on TV this week
Luke Evans in The Pembrokeshire Murders, ITV (Photo: ITV)
The Pembrokeshire Murders, ITV review
Hailee Steinfeld in Dickinson season 2, AppleTV+
Dickinson, season 2, Apple TV+ review
Olly Alexander in It's A Sin, Channel 4 (Photo: Channel 4)
It's A Sin, Channel 4 review
Regé-Jean Page and Phoebe Dynevor in Bridgerton, Netflix (Photo: Netflix)
4 reasons why you should watch Bridgerton
Matthew Macfadyen as Tom Wambsgans in Succession season 3, Sky Atlantic (Photo: Sky/HBO)
Looking back: the best TV shows of 2021
Sign up to CW’s newsletter
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).
2

Finding Alice

ITV

Drama

Keeley Hawes

TV

2021

You might like

  • Johnny Flynn in Stardust (Photo: Sky/Vertigo Releasing)

    Stardust film review ★★★★★

  • Leslie Mann in Blithe Spirit, Sky Cinema (Photo: Sky/StudioCanal)

    Blithe Spirit (2021), Sky Cinema review ★★★★★

  • Gal Gadot in Wonder Woman 1984 (Photo: Clay Enos/Warner Bros./DC Comics)

    Wonder Woman 1984 review ★★★★★

  • Kingsley Ben-Adir as Malcolm X in One Night in Miami, Amazon Prime (Photo: EPK.TV/Amazon)

    One Night in Miami, Amazon Prime review ★★★★★

  • Vanessa Kirby in Pieces of a Woman, Netflix (Photo: Netflix)

    Pieces of a Woman, Netflix review ★★★★★



  • The Culture Whisper team
  • Support Us
  • Tickets
  • Contact us
  • Press
  • FAQ
  • Privacy
  • Terms and conditions
  • Cookies
  • Discover
  • Venues
  • Restaurants
  • Stations
  • Boroughs
Sign up to CW’s newsletter
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).
×