Complicated group holidays have become all the rage in TV dramas of late, thanks to hits like The White Lotus and The Four Seasons.
Now, along comes Two Weeks in August, which stars Jessica Raine, Damien Molony, Antonia Thomas, Nicholas Pinnock, Leila Farzad and Hugh Skinner, and follows a group of friends on a holiday in Greece which become a nightmare after an illicit kiss takes place.
The series comes from writer Catherine Shepherd, who addressed potential comparisons with the aforementioned hit shows while speaking exclusively with Radio Times.
“There are thematic similarities,” she said. “But this is really British in its tone and it’s not about the super-rich. Both of those shows are about very wealthy Americans. We have so many connections with Americans, but I think we’re different in quite profound ways.
“And just because we speak the same language, it’s kind of disarming. We assume similarities. We’re actually much more like the Swedes or the Germans.”
Shepherd added that she “really wanted there to be a money element” within the series, “which I haven’t seen on telly, really”.
“I think often money’s removed from comedy or drama, and everyone just lives in huge houses with big shiny kitchens, and I just think, it’s such a huge part of everyone’s life,” she said.
“And having characters who can’t afford the holiday immediately takes it away to something else. I hope that they’re real people, and the details of their lives are part of it. They haven’t been removed. They’re sort of really part of the story.”
Raine and Molony’s characters, married couple Zoe and Dan, particularly struggle with financial expectations on the part of the rest of the group, and Raine also told us that this “differentiates” Two Weeks in August from “other shows where people are on holiday.
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“The financial situations are so different,” she said. “It’s incredibly relatable. The group just assumes they’ve got £200 to put into a kitty and you can see Zoe and Dan want to run away.
“And every time we got a taxi, we were discussing, ‘How much is left? Oh my god, it’s going down and down and down. That low hum of anxiety permeates through the show as a whole.”
The synopsis for the series says: “Set in Greece, Two Weeks in August tells the story of a woman who goes on holiday with her family and friends to rediscover joy in her life. But, here in paradise, what starts with an illicit kiss quickly turns the dream vacation into a nightmare.
“Zoe begins to act on her deepest desires and the holiday she hoped for becomes a reckoning for a group of adults who refuse to grow up.
“When they discover they are trapped on the island, and become faced with real life-or-death situations, the group soon turn on each other to find out who is to blame. Is Zoe responsible for the drama and destruction around her or, as heaven turns to hell, are bigger forces at play? We are in Greece after all, the land of the ancient Gods…”
Two Weeks in August will air on BBC One and BBC iPlayer from 9pm on Saturday 23 May 2026.
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