“9.5 on the buzz meter”
Lesley Goldberg, The Hollywood Reporter
“The Poster Child For Pandemic Comedy Television”
Peter White, Deadline
“riotously funny”
Kelly Lawler, USA Today
Top 5 Shows To Watch in Quarantine
Los Angeles Times
“Us Musts: a show about loving your kids but also wanting to murder them? How pandemicky!”
Us Weekly
6 April 2020 – Following ongoing critical acclaim in the US and UK, Breeders, a new comedy starring Martin Freeman (Fargo, Sherlock, Black Panther) and Daisy Haggard (Back To Life, Episodes, Black Mirror) continues to explore the paradox that every parent knows but never admits: you would willingly die for your children, but quite often you also want to kill them. Episode 7 of the 10 x 30 series airs on FX tonight at 10pm ET with the series also available to stream on Hulu.
Martin Freeman stars as “Paul,” a caring father discovering he’s not quite the man he thought he was. His partner in this impossibly steep parental climb is “Ally” (Daisy Haggard), who runs a recording studio, makes Paul laugh and has the ability to read a story to their children while she’s technically asleep.
In this honest and uncompromising comedy Paul and Ally are juggling full-time careers, aging parents, a mortgage, upheavals in their relationship and the unenviable curveballs of parenting their young children, “Luke” (George Wakeman) and “Ava” (Jayda Eyles). When Ally’s estranged father “Michael” (Michael McKean) appears on their doorstep, the family essentially takes on a third child but this one comes with baggage and opinions. Paul’s own parents, “Jackie” (Joanna Bacon) and “Jim” (Alun Armstrong), are on hand to help out, but their generation does parenting a little differently…
The 10-episode season is produced by Avalon and FX Productions for FX Networks and Sky Originals. Academy Award®-nominee and double Emmy® Award-winner Simon Blackwell (Veep, Back, Peep Show) is showrunner. Breeders is created by Blackwell, double Emmy® Award and Directors Guild of America Award winner Chris Addison (Veep, The Thick of It, The Hustle), who also directed episodes 6-10, and Emmy and BAFTA®-winning Martin Freeman (Fargo, Sherlock, Black Panther), who also stars alongside Daisy Haggard (Back To Life, Episodes, Black Mirror). Executive producers are Blackwell, Addison, Freeman, Richard Allen-Turner, Rob Aslett, David Martin, Jon Thoday and Michael Wiggs. Ben Palmer (Man Up, The Inbetweeners Movie, Back) is co-executive producer and also directed episodes 1-5, whilst Toby Welch (Catastrophe, The Tunnel, Skins) produces.
Other things the press have said about Breeders in the USA
“Expect clutter, vomit, exasperation, and cutting one-liners”
Keith Phipps, Rolling Stone
“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
“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
“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
“brutally honest — and hilarious”
Damian Holbrook, TV Guide
“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
“Breeders tackles the toils of parenting in a realistic and relatable way seldom seen on TV”
TV Best Bets, Staff, Channel Guide Magazine
“Looks like the most honest show about parenting on TV…. If you’ve got kids, we have your new favorite show lined up and ready”
Lindsay MacDonald, TVGuide.com
“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
The cast and creators are available for interviews, for more information and requests please contact the Avalon Press Office at [email protected]
Some things the press have said about Breeders in the UK
“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
“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
“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
“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
“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…this is a comedy about a family, but by no means a family comedy”
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
“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
“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
“Breeders shows honesty..I found the realness of the series reassuring. Modern parenting is so much about perfection that the slightest imperfection can feel catastrophic.”
Jonathan Dean, The Sunday Times
“great new show…a biting comedy”
Steve Dinneen, City AM
“it’s really funny, very deft”
Russell Howard, The Russell Howard Hour
“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
“Breeders shows honesty..I found the realness of the series reassuring. Modern parenting is so much about perfection that the slightest imperfection can feel catastrophic.”
Jonathan Dean, The Sunday Times
“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 Avalon
Avalon is a multi-award-winning talent management, television production and live promotion group with offices in London, Los Angeles and New York.
The company represents a prolific roster of artists including comedians, actors, presenters, writers and directors and produces numerous ground-breaking television shows. Series currently in production include: Not Going Out (BBC), the UK’s longest running sitcom on air; Taskmaster (Channel 4), the 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 new sitcom starring Martin Freeman and Daisy Haggard (FX/Sky); The Iliza Shlesinger Sketch Show (Netflix); 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 seven seasons of Workaholics (Comedy Central USA). Avalon also distributes its catalogue of programmes to over 150 countries worldwide.
As a leading promoter of live comedy, Avalon produced Newman and Baddiel: Live at Wembley, the UK’s first arena comedy show; Jerry Springer: The Opera, the first West End show to win all four UK ‘Best New Musical’ awards; and has continued to produce and promote live shows globally, as well as promoting more winners and nominees of the prestigious Edinburgh Comedy Award than any other company.
For Avalon news visit: www.avalonuk.com/press or follow @avalonent
