Marriage, BBC

Stefan Golaszewski's new BBC drama navigates the humdrum rhythms of a long-term relationship. But this stuff is boring enough to live through, ...

But they are subordinate to a portrait of lifelong cohabitation and codependence, which while very real isn’t very interesting. There’s no music – often just the sound of a ticking clock to remind you of the time you’re wasting – and scenes can be indulgently long. Ceci n’est pas une sandwich, Golaszewski seems to say, but maybe, sometimes, a sandwich is just a sandwich. Anchored by two superb performances and given a primetime slot, this is slice-of-life programming at its most mainstream. Marriage is interrupting foreplay to put the dishwasher on. Marriage is being disgusted by the holes in your husband’s boxer shorts.

Nicola Walker and Sean Bean triumph as a couple in a marital minefield. TV review by Helen Hawkins.

There’s an almost art-house zing to the pacing and editing, an instinctive feel for when to cut or cross-cut a scene, when to play it in total silence or drown its dialogue in the noise of drills and sirens. Another masterstroke is the Pulitzer-winning opening and end-credits theme: part of the Partita for Eight Voices by the young American Caroline Shaw, which weaves spoken vocal lines of relentless instructions – “To the side, to the side, and around, turn around, to the midpoint” – into a cacophony. Watch out for an extraordinary wordless sequence on a cemetery bench that has to rank as one of the great TV drama scenes. Emma is dangerously keen to impress him: the woman aghast at the price of everything these days is suddenly paying £3 for extra avocado in a salad like the one Jamie has just ordered. Throughout, Bean and Walker deploy their expressive faces like ultra-sensitive weather maps, cloudiness and sun registering in turn without a word being uttered. There is real pathos in watching Bean’s manly frame trying to make its presence felt, while he clearly senses he is invisible or unpalatable to the younger people around him, obsessed with their phones.

CHRISTOPHER STEVENS: Marriage is written by Stefan Golaszewski, best-known for the poignant comedy Mum. Emma is played by Nicola Walker and Sean Bean is ...

Like a draught under the door, he felt the disapproval and wriggled his slippers back on. His wife said nothing, just a sideways flick of the eyes. Emma is played by Nicola Walker and Sean Bean is Ian. Where's the wine rack? Where's the designer fridge? But the Beeb drama department rarely acknowledges their existence.

BBC Marriage viewers blast 'abysmal sound quality' during Sean Bean drama: 'TV volume is at 65 and I can't hear a thing'. Comment. author ...

‘Emma is doing well at work and trying to balance that with Ian’s feelings. Ian has recently been made redundant and is beginning to adapt to his new existence. I like having as few words as possible for a scene.’ ‘Casting Nicola and Sean was great as I was able to rewrite the scripts with them in mind and strip away as much dialogue as I could, knowing I had two amazing actors who could do all that for me, which I prefer. The official synopsis reads: ‘Ian and Emma get back from their holiday in Spain and return to their normal lives. The gripping drama – which stars Game of Thrones’ Sean Bean and Unforgotten actress Nicola Walker – follows Ian and Emma a married couple dealing with the highs and lows of being in a long-lasting relationship.

New BBC drama, Marriage, is set to begin on Sunday, August 14. The series, which stars Sean Bean and Nicola Walker, follows a married couple as they ...

But where was the new series filmed and how many episodes are there? The new drama also explores the risks and gifts of a long-term intimate relationship. The series, which stars Sean Bean and Nicola Walker, follows a married couple as they negotiate the ups and downs of their 30-year marriage.