✕ ✕
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

Why You Should Watch Back To Life

In Back to Life, Daisy Haggard plays an ex-convict who's released after an 18-year sentence. Now, she has to adjust to modern life

By Euan Franklin on 9/5/2019

Daisy Haggard in Back to Life
Daisy Haggard in Back to Life
Why You Should Watch Back To Life Why You Should Watch Back To Life Euan Franklin
BBC iPlayer has grown into a great starting hub for new and excellent comedy-dramas – Phoebe Waller-Bridge being the pin-up example with Fleabag and Killing Eve. Now Back to Life, another new female-centred series, has entered the fray – created by and starring Daisy Haggard.


Like Fleabag, the series unfolds over six half-hour episodes, but Back to Life is its own bingeable piece of brilliance. Here’s why you should watch it.



A sad but engrossing story


Miri Matheson (Haggard) has just been released from prison, after an 18-year sentence. She enters a changed world, governed by the Internet and smartphones. She returns to her family home in Hythe, Kent, where she’s rejected by almost everyone. Only her parents, who badly conceal their suspicions by hiding the kitchen knives, are willing to take her in.


But the question is: what did she do? Back to Life is as much a whatdunit as a whydunit (there’s no question of who). The answer unravels across the series, but not in a tropey detective structure like The Sinner. Over the course of each episode, details gradually drip into view.



Miri Matheson (Daisy Haggard) is released from prison after an 18-year sentence

But Miri’s day-to-day existence is the priority – readjusting to a small seaside town that doesn’t want her there. Job interviews are cancelled with furious reasons like ‘you can clean offices in hell, you sick b****’ and blood-red paint is chucked outside her house, spelling out ‘PSYCHO B****' (only without the stars).


Miri is able to push through because of her resilience, and the occasional act of kindness. Her awkward next-door neighbour Billy (Adeel Akhtar) facilitates these little niceties – giving her ice-cream, taking her to a fairground – without knowing about her crime. He makes her feel human again.



Billy (Adeel Akhtar) makes Miri feel human again

Haggard and co-writer Laura Solon structure the series perfectly. In keeping the crime hidden, at first, we come to know and sympathise with Miri – making the vitriol towards her all the more unbearable.


Pitch-black comedy


But don’t think Back to Life is all sombre close-ups and dark alleyways. Miri tries to tackle her situation with as much humour as possible – often smiling through waves of hurtful insults. It’s part of how she gets through. But most of the comedy stems from the absurd people around her.


Miri’s father Oscar (Richard Durden) is an energetic left-winger. He often voices concerns about the environment and gentrification, while also being consistently useless – often shouting for his wife Caroline (Geraldine James) to alleviate difficult situations. Caroline, also, has a secret: she's having an affair with Miri’s previous lover, in scenes that play out with sexually hilarious results.



Miri's parents: Caroline (Geraldine James) and Oscar (Richard Durden)


Despite their prejudices against Miri, it's soon clear that everybody in Hythe has a ridiculous secret to hide. There are people weirder than Miri Matheson, yet the residents pretend there aren't – crossing into that middle-class delusion of perfection, of how great things used to be.



Visually Stunning and Surreal


Similar to The Bay and Don’t Forget the Driver, Back to Life takes place in a scenic town by the seaside – a usual source for many wondrous images.



The 'sound mirrors' are returned to again and again


Ben Wheeler’s camera is often grey, overcast – creating an uncomfortable bleakness in places that are, on the surface, beautiful. In a recurring aerial shot, we return to the area where the crime took place: at a historic ‘sound mirror’, built to amplify the sounds of oncoming aircrafts during the Second World War.


It’s a strange sight, especially as the structure stands on its own. The camera flies in like a bad omen, but seems to indicate that something is missing.



Some images are just enticing in themselves


Back to Life isn't just written well, it also strikes a fascinating visual style. Some images are just enticing in themselves – like the shot ending episode five, where a stall is eaten by flames. The cinematography is just one of the reasons why this series is so memorable.


Back to Life is available to stream on BBC iPlayer. It also plays episodically on Mondays at 10:35pm on BBC One.





What Why You Should Watch Back To Life
Price £n/a
Website



Most popular

Things to do in London this weekend: 3–5 February
Things to do in London this weekend: 3–5 February
Helena Bonham Carter in Nolly, ITVX (Photo: ITV)
What to watch on TV this week
London Theatre Guide: best plays on now in London (Photograph: Peter Lewicki)
London Theatre Guide: best plays on now in London, 2023

Editor's Picks

Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler in Murder Mystery, Netflix
New to Netflix UK: June 2019
Jessie Buckley in Chernobyl, Sky Atlantic
Chernobyl, Sky Atlantic review
Helena Bonham Carter in Nolly, ITVX (Photo: ITV)
What to watch on TV this week
Lily James and Ansel Elgort in Baby Driver
New to Netflix UK: May 2019
Elisabeth Moss in The Handmaid's Tale season 3, Hulu
The Handmaid's Tale season 3 review, Channel 4
Textbook dragon action at the Battle of Winterfell
Game of Thrones: who died at the Battle for Winterfell?
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).

Back to Life

BBC

BBC iPlayer

TV

Streaming

Daisy Haggard

You might like

  • Kate Beckinsale in The Widow, ITV

    The Widow episode 8 review ★★★★★

  • Jeff Daniels in The Looming Tower, BBC Two

    The Looming Tower, BBC Two review ★★★★★

  • Reese Witherspoon, Shailene Woodley, Zoë Kravitz, Nicole Kidman, and Laura Dern in Big Little Lies season 2, Sky Atlantic

    Big Little Lies season 2, Sky Atlantic 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).
×