Comedy Starring Martin Freeman and Daisy Haggard
Continues Its Bitter-Sweet Look at the Struggles of Modern Parenthood
“9.5 on the buzz meter”
Lesley Goldberg, The Hollywood Reporter
“The Poster Child For Pandemic Comedy Television”
Peter White, Deadline
“This dark comedy series about the challenges of child rearing couldn’t have come at a better time.”
Peter Libbey, The New York Times
“riotously funny”
Kelly Lawler, USA Today
Top 5 Shows To Watch in Quarantine
Los Angeles Times
LOS ANGELES, March 12, 2022 – FX’s Breeders, the comedy series that explores the challenges of modern parenting, returns for its third season on Monday, May 9th on FX and streaming the next day on Hulu. The series starring Martin Freeman and Daisy Haggard will premiere with the first two episodes of the 10-episode third season.
Breeders continues its bitter-sweet look at the struggles of modern parenthood. Season 3 starts days after Season 2 ended, as the Worsley family reels from teenaged Luke (Alex Eastwood) punching his dad, Paul (Martin Freeman). Paul’s moved out and is staying at his mother-in-law Leah’s (Stella Gonet) house. He should be lonely but actually the simpler life has its appeal. Eventually, though, amends with Luke must be made. Meanwhile Ally (Daisy Haggard) has her own problems – with work, with her early menopause and with her increasingly strained relationship with her newly adolescent daughter, Ava (Eve Prenelle). Gallows humor and large glasses of wine only go so far in quelling the angst…
Breeders is produced by Avalon and FX Productions for FX Networks and Sky Originals. Academy Award®-nominee and double Emmy® Award-winner Simon Blackwell is showrunner. Breeders is created by Blackwell, double Emmy Award and Directors Guild of America Award winner Chris Addison and Emmy and BAFTA®-winning Martin Freeman, who also stars alongside Daisy Haggard who received a BAFTA® nomination for her role in the show last year. Executive producers are Blackwell, Addison, Freeman, Richard Allen-Turner, Rob Aslett, David Martin, Jon Thoday, Toby Welch and Michael Wiggs. Jim Poyser produces.
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Other Things The Press Has Said About Breeders In The USA
“FX’s Breeders smartly upends its status quo in season 2 finale…This introspective twist is a smart game-changer for Breeders. As dryly comical as the show has been with its sitcom humor, deadpan delivery of one-liners by the two leads, and a spectacular supporting cast—Joanna Bacon and Allun Armstrong as Paul’s parents Jackie and Jim are extraordinarily funny—the subject matter has always been quite poignant…The finale successfully revamps Breeders’ original comedic scope by tightening its more weightier themes.” Grade: A-
Saloni Gajjar, The A.V. Club
“Expect clutter, vomit, exasperation, and cutting one-liners”
Keith Phipps, Rolling Stone
“Us Musts: a show about loving your kids but also wanting to murder them? How pandemicky!”
Us Weekly
“While “Breeders” was dreamed up as a darkly honest, unfiltered comedy for the best of times, a person can only imagine how relatable it must be in a time when schools and day cares are closed and parents – the lucky ones, I should say – are stuck working at home with children who have no concept of the pressures bearing down on adults.”
Melanie Mcfarland, Salon.com
“It’s so funny and it’s so real, I feel parents everywhere will relate…we love the show and guys, you will love it too”
Lara Spencer, Good Morning America
“Brilliant show…I think the show is great, I loved the first season and I’m really excited to devour the second season and all of its honesty”
James Corden, The Late Late Show
“Breeders” ends its sophomore season on a game-changing dramatic note”
Michael Starr, New York Post
“Breeders is everything I love in a show in that it makes me both laugh and cry, and often simultaneously. The performances from Daisy Haggard and Martin Freeman were exceptional in Season 2, and that’s perhaps even more true in tonight’s season finale on FX… Few shows are able to truly capture the balance between the horrors and highlights when it comes to parenthood, marriage, and simply getting by, but Breeders has certainly found the sweet spot in the heart and humor of this show.”
Lea Palmieri, Decider
“FX’s Breeders goes where most comedies wouldn’t in its sad but honest season 2 finale… That all of this emotional truth can play out alongside a running stream of great one-liners is testament to the strength of the writing and of the cast, led by Freeman and Haggard, who are totally bilingual when it comes to comedy and drama. It’s a painful finale that leaves a season of comedy on bravely uncomfortable ground.”
Louisa Mellor, Den of Geek
“Cheers to Breeders for producing a couple we’ve grown to adore. As a flawed and frantic London couple struggling to raise two kids and retain their sanity, Martin Freeman and Daisy Haggard feel even more riotously relatable in the FX dramedy’s consistently addicting second season”
Damian Holbrook, TV Guide
“When a TV show pops a plot twist that makes you suspect its creators hid a GoPro somewhere on your body, it can make for must-see TV. “Breeders,” a set-in-London parental comedy now in its second season, is one of those shows….it will be fascinating to see where Season 2 is headed”
Scott L. Powers, Chicago Tribune
“hilarious”
Entertainment Tonight
“Each episode feels like a slice of life, complete with laughs, tears, sarcasm….In the hands of [Martin] Freeman, [Daisy] Haggard, [Simon] Blackwell and [Chris] Addison, it makes for wry, amusing and relatable television…..Rating: ★★★★ Very good”
Diane Gordon, Collider
“edgy….humor, cynicism, reluctance, bewilderment, love”
Michael Starr, The New York Post
“Hilarious….Buckle up, parents, because we’re all about to take a ride on the parenting train into Relatable Town thanks to FX’s newest comedy, Breeders”
Alessia Santoro, PopSugar
“One of my absolute favourite shows on TV”
Jess Cagle, The Jess Cagle Show SiriusXM
“We feel ourselves truly seen and what can we say misery loves company, they show you the good the bad and the ugly of parenting”
Dalton Ross, EW Live SiriusXM
“Breeders is hilarious, it is refreshing to see a show that is not a typical idea of what childhood looks like, the glossy perfect version”
Keshia Chante, ET Canada
“This new comedy starring Martin Freeman follows a couple enduring some hilarious struggles while trying to raise their two children”
Jessica Toomer, UPROXX
“Breeders finds catharsis amid the agony of parenthood….The lighting-strike chemistry of the show’s central couple fuels its exploration of parenthood’s highs and lows”
Niv M. Sultan, Slant
“Paul and Ally face a lot of specific, fun situations and hardships, but the series always finds a way to make them resonate…Breeders humanizes and lends empathy toward parental figures….Despite touching on serious issues, Breeders doesn’t lose sight of its humor, interweaving it throughout the episodes via matter-of-fact, deadpan delivery of one-liners and absurd scenarios”
Saloni Gajjar, The A.V. Club
“Breeders is made by parents for parents, and everyone who seeks to understand family life…that rare show that’s actually funnier in its second season”
Sandy Kenyon, ABC7
“heartfelt storytelling… more self-aware voice in season two, the show has found its place in the genre…Breeders becomes stronger as a show, one that actually has something more poignant to offer”
Saloni Gajjar, A.V. Club
“Television’s Most Relatable Portrayal of Modern Parenting. Daisy Haggard and Martin Freeman are superb at conveying genuine affection and sheer exasperation. An underrated gem”
Jon O’Brien, Decider
“‘Breeders’ is a hilarious comedy series that details the struggle parents have to go through when raising a child. Through rib-tickling instances and brilliant performances, the series introduces the viewer to the many problems surrounding parenthood and how it can drive one to the end of their wits… The second season of the series brings with it plenty of laughs and rip-roaring fun peppered by the occasional heart-touching moments.”
Shraman Mitra, The Cinemaholic
“The FX comedy series Breeders is heading towards its final episode of the season; a two-parter that has effortlessly raised the stakes and kept its audience on the edge of their seats.”
Raven Brunner, Monsters & Critics
“the first two episodes made us laugh so much….it pulled no punches when it comes to the difficulties of being parents in this day and age…. Breeders’ stark reality of what it’s like to parent young kids these days hits us right in our exhausted funny bones”
Joel Keller, Decider
“Breeders” has a lot going for it, especially in the choices of Freeman and Haggard as its leads… Thanks to its creative team and solid performers, “Breeders” is a reliable comedy”
Caroline Framke, Variety
“hits all the prickly marks, starting with a first-rate cast led by co-creator Martin Freeman and Daisy Haggard as Paul and Ally”
Matt Roush, TV Guide
“I know many viewers can relate to this comedy series….This comedy is sure to make you laugh while you’re nodding and thinking, ‘Yep. I can relate to that’”
Verona Jones, Fansided
“brutally honest — and hilarious”
Damian Holbrook, TV Insider
“Well-liked by TV critics….Check it out if you’ve yet to”
Jeff Sneider, Collider
“a refreshingly unflinching look at the good, bad and ugly realities of parenthood—new parents be warned!”
Benjamin Lindsay, Rotten Tomatoes
Some things the press have said about Breeders in the UK
“parenting series feels almost subversive…outwardly cynical, secretly sentimental… Both funny and searingly truthful…season two has already been a hit on America’s FX network.” ★★★★
Ed Power, The Daily Telegraph
“terrific: dark, fresh, brutal, funny…Simon Blackwell and Chris Addison have managed the near-impossible by creating a parenting comedy that is not twee and makes the tired tropes of sleep deprivation and school-catchment obsession funny.” ★★★★
Carol Midgley, The Times
“biting social satire…intriguing…The writing is sharp and witty…perfectly formed wisecracks and zingers… Martin Freeman (also the lead), Chris Addison and Simon Blackwell are like three mad scientists let loose in the telly labs” ★★★★
Sean O’Grady, The Independent
“crafted to perfection, Blackwell supplies a steady stream of laugh-out-loud lines and Freeman and Haggard immediately gel as a finely tuned double act playing off each other with exquisite timing” ★★★★
Mark Wareham, Mail On Sunday
“Martin Freeman and Daisy Haggard excel in parenting sitcom with bite…Smart, spiky and hilarious” ★★★★
Morgan Jeffery, Radio Times
“For Breeders to deal with darker topics, including postnatal depression and what Blackwell calls “grief sex”, it adopts the knife-edge tone that defines the best modern TV comedy: able to nest real, wrenching drama into outlandish scenarios and vice versa, rather than offering viewers a predictable series of set-ups and positive punchlines”
Tom Faber, Financial Times
“The parent-torment sitcom Breeders, now on episode three, ‘No Accident’, is beginning to emulsify nicely…Breeders whizzes by, all zingers and howlers.” ★★★★
David Sexton, Evening Standard
“Refreshingly truthful parenting comedy” ★★★★
Ian Hyland, The Mirror
“a hilariously no-holds-barred look at the real challenges of parenting in the contemporary world…a brilliantly shocking opening that sets the tone for a show, which is beautifully observed and very funny” ★★★★★
Boyd Hilton, Heat Magazine
“a thoughtful exploration of fatherhood.”
Helen Stewart, The Sunday Times
“Freeman and Haggard are thoroughly appealing performers…the two children — Alex Eastwood and Eve Prenelle, both new to the roles — are excellent”
Dominic Maxwell, The Times
“honest and uncompromising comedy pulling no punches as it explores the pressures of raising a family. Millions of mums and dads across Britain will sympathise…prepare for laughs, tears and plenty of swearing” ★★★★
Sean Marland, TV Times Magazine
“Martin Freeman and Daisy Haggard impress in Sky’s parental sitcom…their tight-knit, witty bitching about rival, “perfect ” schoolgate parents is a delight that never flags… a triumph”
Euan Ferguson, The Observer
“a corker of an introduction…uncompromising but hilarious” ★★★★★
Mike Ward, Daily Star
“last week’s opening double-bill was full of wonderful lines and hilarious situations. In short, it was everything you want from such a show” ★★★★
Daily Star Sunday
“Freeman and Daisy Haggard, who plays Paul’s wife, Ally, are excellent as the couple whose united front cracks as sleep deprivation kicks in.”
Victoria Segal, The Sunday Times
“When the great corona-shutdown kicks in, the Breeders crew might find they’ve made the most accidentally zeitgeisty programme of all time”
Victoria Coren Mitchell, The Telegraph
“an unforgivingly accurate depiction of the lesser-spotted aspects of raising kids that will have most parents wincing in recognition… funny, seldom comfortable and worryingly relatable”
Gabriel Tate, The Telegraph
“No-holds-barred ferocity…the show is fearless”
James Jackson, The Times
“Tune in to for Freeman on top form as the wry and exasperated Paul”
Ammar Kalie, The Guardian and The Observer
“Here’s the mother – and father – of all comedies for any parents who’ve endured sleepless nights while bringing up young children…thick with laughs”
Deborah Ross, Mail On Sunday
“How many comedies are honest about what being a parent of young children entails? Maybe Motherland broke the mould, but Breeders takes it to another level… painfully funny”
David Butcher, Radio Times
“Welcome to the set of Breeders, a new show that takes the best ingredients of Motherland and Outnumbered – middle-class dramas about parenting – and adds a large dose of the sheer fury that it can induce…Bitingly funny”
Nicole Lampert, Daily Mail
“If you’re in need of a good laugh, this refreshingly frank parenting sitcom will do the job…witty, honest and often relatable”
Jen Crothers and Nathalie Whittle Round, Good Housekeeping
“The turbulent push and pull of how much independence you should give your children is perfectly realised.”
Joe Clay, The Times
“We need to get more people into the Breeders flock… this goes even deeper… if you haven’t seen Breeders you literally have to watch it or stop listening to the show… this genius within the writing… and there’s lots of genius… you write and build in these lovely moments of stillness that really seem to take their time and to do that in such a brief televisual window is so clever”
Chris Evans, Virgin Radio
“really good dialogue, in fact it’s damn near perfect, I mean it’s funny, it’s serious, it’s just such a great show”
Steve Wright, BBC Radio 2
“Veering from big laughs to heartbreak”
Morgan Jeffrey, Radio Times
“Doesn’t pull any punches…it’s genuinely laugh-out-loud funny”
Kate Noble, The Sun
“Dark, honest and made all the more human by the welcome chaos of being a parent. It could be a scene from Breeders”
Guy Kelly, The Telegraph
“one of TV’s most terrifyingly accurate portrait of modern parenting – returns for a welcome second series, claws even sharper.”
Gabriel Tate, The Daily Telegraph
“Breeders is brilliant, it really is… this is superb Breeders, it’s so good, because it is a carbon copy of my life… really sensitive moments, really beautiful moments in it, and then that kind of juxtaposition with bits that make you laugh out loud”
Nihal Arthanayake, BBC Radio 5 Live
“an agreeably realistic counterpoint to all those shiny, happy people in TV adverts.”
Keith Watson, Metro
“a truth to tell about how hard it can be to let your children grow up” ★★★★
Robin Wiggs, Daily Mail
“Martin Freeman and Daisy Haggard cut very close to the bone as the put-upon parents, yet there’s a lot of warmth buried beneath the shouting and swearing.” ★★★★
Sean Marland, TV Times Magazine
“Breeders stands as a candid, and hilarious, dissection of modern parenting”
Lucas Hill-Paul, The Express
“lots of fun. It’s refreshingly honest and well-observed…a smart, warts and all comedy”
Sara Wallis, The Mirror
“Finally, a comedy that lays bare the pain of parenting…painful, hilarious and closer to reality than many might care to admit”
Ed Power, The i
“brilliant creation”
Helen Brown, The Telegraph
“I think they’ve written a great thing, it felt really well observed and had good lines…must watch”
Hayley Campbell, BBC Radio5 Live
“I love it…it’s a great, great, show…Watch the first minute of the first episode and if you’re not in after that I don’t know why God gave you eyes and indeed ears…it’s very funny.”
Chris Evans, Virgin Radio
“it’s really really funny, I really love it”
Sara Cox, BBC Radio 4
“Sky’s achingly spot-on comedy, with Martin Freeman and Daisy Haggard as a couple driven to distraction by the demands of parenting, hits the funny bone again with reminders of the painful pinch of the “sandwich” generation.”
Gerrard O’Donovan, The Telegraph
“brilliantly uncomfortable”
Hugo Rifkind, The Times
About FX
FX, a division of Disney General Entertainment, is a multiplatform brand that develops, produces, commissions and markets original programming for Hulu and the FX and FXX linear channels in the U.S., and Star+ in Latin America and Disney+ in all other international territories. The FX brand mark appears above the title across its entire slate of originals. Over the past two decades, FX has been responsible for some the most-critically acclaimed and award-winning shows on television. Some of the brand’s current and legacy titles include the dramas American Horror Story, American Crime Story, The Americans, Damages, Fargo, Justified, Nip/Tuck, Pose, Rescue Me, The Shield and Sons of Anarchy; the comedies Archer, Atlanta, Better Things, Dave, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Reservation Dogs and What We Do in the Shadows; and a growing slate of docuseries and documentary films.
About Avalon
Avalon is a multi-award-winning talent management, television production and live promotion group with offices in London, Los Angeles and New York.
Avalon, Artist Rights Group (ARG) and The Agency represent a prolific roster of artists including comedians, actors, presenters, writers and directors. Avalon’s numerous ground-breaking returning television shows currently in production include: Not Going Out (BBC), the UK’s longest running sitcom on air; Taskmaster (Channel 4), the BAFTA-winning hit entertainment format showing in 100 countries; multi Emmy-winner, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO); The Russell Howard Hour (Sky), the network’s most successful entertainment show launch since 2010; Starstruck, a new sitcom from the 2018 Edinburgh Comedy Award winner Rose Matafeo (HBO Max/BBC); Everything’s Gonna Be Okay, from creator Josh Thomas (Freeform); Breeders, a sitcom starring Martin Freeman and Daisy Haggard (FX/Sky); a new series of the iconic British satirical puppet show, Spitting Image (BritBox UK); and multiple comedy specials for Amazon Prime Video, HBO Max and Netflix.
Other landmark Avalon shows include BAFTA winning and multi Emmy nominated Catastrophe (Amazon Prime Video/Channel 4), Fantasy Football League (BBC/ITV), multi BAFTA-winning TV Burp (ITV), and Workaholics (Comedy Central USA). Avalon also distributes its catalogue of programmes to over 150 countries worldwide. Avalon has produced many globally successful podcasts and is at the top of the UK iTunes chart with the multi-award-winning Shagged. Married. Annoyed by Chris and Rosie Ramsey.
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Contacts:
Avalon
Victoria Wedderburn – VWedderburn@avalonuk.com
FX Networks
Adrienne D’Amato – Adrienne.DAmato@FXNetworks.com
Justin Sutton – Justin.Sutton@FXNetworks.com
Charlotte Simon – Charlotte.Simon@FXNetworks.com
