‘Years and Years’ is the new show all ‘Black Mirror’ fans need to watch

The problem with Black Mirror is there’s never quite enough of it.

How are we supposed to wallow sufficiently in existential dread if we only have three episodes to do it in, eh Season 5?

Well, don’t despair just yet. Although it may be a while before more Black Mirror cracks its way onto our screens, there are alternatives.

Years and Years, a six-episode series co-produced by the BBC and HBO, is one of those. If you’re partial to shows that fill you with a deep-rooted sense of terror about the direction our society’s headed, you’ll almost certainly love it.

What’s it actually about?

Years and Years follows the lives of one UK family — the Lyons — over a 15-year period. It starts in the present day and immediately lulls us into a false sense of realism, as one of the main characters drives along listening to a BBC Radio 4 news bulletin about real-life 2019 issues. Theresa May. Brexit. The death of Doris Day. The show makes it clear that it’s set in the same world we inhabit — and then it swiftly pulls the rug out from under us.

A mere 10 minutes into the first episode, time jumps forward by five years — hurtling us into a near-future filled with political chaos, frightening technological developments, and the background threat of nuclear war. So much to look forward to, right?

Image: BBC/Red Productions/Guy Farrow

Why should you watch it?

It’s one of those rare shows that manages to take an interesting and unique premise and actually execute it really well.

The way Years and Years leaps through time is both disorientating and believable. (Think the ending of Six Feet Under, only with long pauses dotted throughout.) Unlike Black Mirror, which opts to show random snapshots of typically unspecified points in the future, Years and Years shows us the progression. The full journey. We start with a group of characters who are believably human and flawed, and watch as their lives follow sometimes inevitable, sometimes surprising paths.

There’s Edith Lyons (Jessica Hynes), an activist whose obsession with shedding light on a foreign conflict leads to her placing herself in serious danger. There’s her brother Daniel (Russell Tovey), a housing officer who gets into an affair with a refugee. There’s the Trump/Farage-esque figure of Vivienne Rook (Emma Thompson), an entrepreneur-turned-politician who surfs a horribly familiar wave of far-right populism to become prime minister.

The entire show feels like a funhouse hall of mirrors, distorting real life political and technological story-lines and throwing them back in our faces. 

The concept of transhumanism

Image: BBC/Red Productions/Guy Farrow

The most Black Mirror-esque storyline in Years and Years comes via one of the Lyons family’s granddaughters, Bethany (Lydia West). Our introduction to her character already feels like something Charlie Brooker would approve of: sitting at the kitchen table, she speaks to her unimpressed parents through an AR filter that turns her face into that of a cartoon dog.

Later, when they check up on Bethany by hacking her internet history, her parents discover search terms like “help for trans” and “living as trans” — and they think they’ve got to the bottom of why she’s been so reserved lately.

They haven’t though. In a memorable speech, Bethany explains that she isn’t transgender — she’s transhuman.

“Where I’m going there’s no life or death — only data. I will be data.”

“They say one day soon they’ll have clinics in Switzerland where you can go, and you’ll sign a form and they’ll take your brain and download it… into the cloud,” Bethany explains.

“I want to live forever as information. Because that’s what transhumans are, mum. Not male or female — better. Where I’m going there’s no life or death — only data. I will be data.”

It’s an interesting storyline that touches on themes of biohacking, as well as the concept of digital consciousness explored in Black Mirror episodes like “White Christmas” and “Hang the DJ.”

And just like in those episodes, the future of our digital identities is shown to be anything other than straightforward.

The rise of populism

Image: BBC/Red Productions/Guy Farrow

Technology isn’t the only theme explored in Years and Years. The future of politics plays a big role, too.

We’re first introduced to Emma Thompson’s character Vivienne Rook when a comment she makes during an episode of BBC Question Time goes viral.

“Yeah, I know. I know,” she says in response to a question from an audience member about the Gaza Strip. “But I suppose, when it comes to Israel and Palestine… I don’t give a fuck.”

It’s a moment that some characters watching find shocking, and others find funny. It’s also reminiscent of the anti-PC brashness used as a political tactic by the likes of Donald Trump on the campaign trail.

And like Trump, Rook catches people off-guard. She sets up her own political party, eventually becomes prime minister, and then starts implementing some very disturbing policies.

The refugee crisis

Image: BBC/Red Productions/Matt Squire

One of the most poignant and disturbing storylines in Years and Years revolves around the refugees seeking sanctuary in Britain — and the horrendous (not to mention horrendously familiar) way they’re treated by Vivienne Rook’s far-right government.

As well as showing us the bigger picture, the show zooms in on a character called Viktor Goraya (Maxim Baldry) — a refugee from Ukraine who faces persecution because of his sexuality.

His attempts to settle permanently in the UK with Daniel Lyons are interrupted when he gets reported to the government for working illegally in a petrol station. He’s swiftly deported back to Ukraine, and Daniel spends the rest of the show trying to find a way to bring him home.

It’s a horrifically sad storyline that’s reminiscent of many real-world stories of family separation we’ve seen come out of the refugee crisis — and yet another example of the way Years and Years holds up a mirror to reflect our own society’s darker trends.

The show isn’t always comfortable viewing. Given the themes mentioned above, that probably goes without saying. 

But by refusing to ignore uncomfortable topics, creator Russell T. Davies had made one of the most emotionally impactful British shows so far in 2019.

Years and Years is available to stream in the UK now on BBC iPlayer. It’s currently streaming in the U.S. on HBO.