--- title: "This Life" year: 1996 kind: "series" canonical: "https://film.one/tv/this-life" fi1m_id: "this-life" imdb_id: "tt0115390" tmdb_id: 150 wikidata_id: "Q2725194" fi1m_score: 84 critics_score: 86 critics_reviews: 4 published: "2026-09-16" updated: "2026-09-20T21:01:21.027212+00:00" region: "AT" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # This Life (1996) Created by Amy Jenkins · Drama ## Identity This Life - **Canonical:** https://film.one/tv/this-life - **Type:** Series - **Fi1m ID:** this-life - **IMDb ID:** tt0115390 - **TMDB ID:** 150 - **Wikidata ID:** Q2725194 - **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115390/, https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/150, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2725194 **Fi1m score: 84** · Critics 86 (early) from 4 reviews *In a sentence:* We would ask for references before dating any of these young professionals > *This Life* makes the muddle of early professional life funny and affecting, with an ensemble worth spending time among. The opening is a little over-arranged, but Daniela Nardini and Jack Davenport make that seem a minor complaint. ## Synopsis Job interviews and therapy sessions introduce Warren (Jason Hughes), Egg (Andrew Lincoln), Anna (Daniela Nardini), Milly (Amita Dhiri) and Miles (Jack Davenport), young professionals trying to establish their working lives. The questions put to them bring careers and personal concerns into the same opening. Beyond work, friendships, drinking, casual sex and relationships occupy the group, with attraction between Anna and Miles adding to the complications. *This Life* follows the ensemble as work and private life compete for their attention, and getting a professional foothold leaves plenty else unsettled. ## Review Amy Jenkins’s *This Life* is a funny, perceptive ensemble drama that we recommend with a small reservation about how neatly it introduces its people. Its young professionals are trying to make a start at work while getting tangled up in friendships and relationships. The series takes those concerns seriously, without requiring us to treat every personal difficulty as a catastrophe. It is good company even when its characters are making poor company for one another. The opening uses job interviews and therapy sessions to let us meet them. We felt an uncomfortable flicker of recognition in the interviews: having to explain yourself before you have worked yourself out is a familiar ordeal. Putting therapy alongside that process is clever, because both situations demand answers to questions people might prefer to avoid. It also gives the opening a little too much assistance; there are moments when we would rather discover someone through a less obliging conversation. Daniela Nardini’s Anna and Jack Davenport’s Miles supply the strongest reason to stay. Their chemistry gives the attraction an awkwardness that mere good looks would not manage: wanting someone becomes another problem to deal with. We are interested in how these two respond to each other, and do not need a declaration to tell us that it matters. Both actors make room for the less flattering feelings around desire, which keeps their scenes from becoming an advertisement for the couple. Jason Hughes as Warren, Andrew Lincoln as Egg and Amita Dhiri as Milly help make the friendships equally absorbing. The ensemble’s intimacy matters because the dialogue asks to be believed as conversation, even when it is doing several jobs at once. These performances make the writing sound comfortably spoken, with no need to announce each sharp observation. We want to keep listening to the group, which is a considerable advantage in a drama built around people discussing their lives. The observational style is a sensible choice for material involving casual sex, drinking and the uncertainty of starting a career. It lets those things belong to ordinary life, without turning each one into a subject for special consideration. Amy Jenkins, also among the writers, deserves credit for making this material funny without making the people disposable. We can laugh at these young professionals without deciding their troubles are too small to count, and the series is more affecting for that. As a drama about early adult life, it is refreshingly willing to let friendship matter alongside sexual attraction. That widens our interest beyond the question of which people might get together, although Anna and Miles can make it difficult to look elsewhere. The careful introductions are the one point where the programme seems less relaxed than its cast. Give it time to get beyond the interviews; the people are worth knowing, including the ones we would not want to live with. *Fi1m score 84, published 16 September 2026.* ## Straight answers **Is This Life worth watching?** *This Life* is worth watching for anyone who enjoys ensemble drama about friendship, work and bad decisions in early adulthood, and we scored it 84. Daniela Nardini and Jack Davenport give the attraction between Anna and Miles a real awkwardness, and the wider cast makes the conversation sound spoken rather than written. Our one reservation is an opening that introduces its people a little too neatly. **Where can I watch This Life in Austria?** *This Life* is not on any streaming or rental service in Austria at the moment. It is available in 1 other country; change your country at the top of the page to see where. Availability is checked daily. **How violent or frightening is This Life, and is it suitable for children?** *This Life* carries a UK 18 certificate and is not suitable for children. It contains no violence or frights that we noted; the certificate reflects casual sex, drinking and frank adult talk, handled in an observational way that treats them as part of ordinary life. It is for adults, and older teenagers should be steered elsewhere. **How does This Life compare to Our Friends in the North?** *This Life* is the lighter and funnier of the two, following young professionals through work, drinking and relationships, while [*Our Friends in the North*](https://film.one/tv/our-friends-in-the-north) sets its friendships against decades of political disappointment. The earlier-set drama is the more ambitious and the more affecting; *This Life* is the better company for an evening. Both are worth seeing for their ensembles. **What should I watch after This Life?** After *This Life*, try [*Our Friends in the North*](https://film.one/tv/our-friends-in-the-north) (1996, Fi1m 88): Another ensemble whose friendships deserve as much attention as its romances. Then [*The Big Chill*](https://film.one/film/the-big-chill) (1983, Fi1m 67): For more friends discovering that adulthood has not improved their judgement; and [*The Worst Person in the World*](https://film.one/film/the-worst-person-in-the-world) (2021, Fi1m 84): A searching, funny companion for anyone still treating adulthood as provisional. ### Reviews we read (4) - **The Guardian** (90/100, inferred): The critic calls it a funny, heartbreaking Cool Britannia classic that felt freakishly true to life in its portrayal of messy 20-something relationships, casual sex, drinking and friendships. They single out the sharp writing, complex ensemble characters and powerful chemistry (especially Anna and Miles) as standing out compared to more tame shows like Friends. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2021/aug/06/this-life-review-a-funny-heartbreaking-and-freakishly-true-cool-britannia-classic) - **The Telegraph** (90/100, inferred): The series is an underrated gem that reinvented British TV with its handheld camera style and realistic portrayal of twentysomething life. It captured the 1990s zeitgeist perfectly through its characters' chaotic relationships and hedonism. [Read](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/0/sex-drugs-wobbly-cameras-this-life-reinvented-british-tv/) - **The Times** (90/100, inferred): Amy Jenkins’s drama nailed the volatile years between university and maturity like no series before or since, with smart scripts, ballsy acting and explicit hedonism. It is quintessentially 1990s and made stars of its leads. [Read](https://www.thetimes.com/travel/destinations/uk-travel/england/london-travel/this-life-complete-series-1-and-2-3v7zh9mvddx) - **The Independent** (75/100, inferred): The critic praises the series premiere for its clever scene-setting through job interviews and therapy sessions, realistic dialogue and observational style that captures the first-job years of young professionals. The acting conveys intimacy and the show feels closer to the lived experience of its target audience than prior dramas. [Read](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/review-5415749.html) ## Details - **Created by:** Amy Jenkins - **Creator:** Amy Jenkins - **Director:** Sallie Aprahamian, Nigel Douglas, Audrey Cooke, Dominic Lees, Harry Bradbeer, Sam Miller, Morag Fullarton, Joy Perino, Joe Ahearne - **Writer:** Richard Zajdlic, Amy Jenkins, Matthew Graham, Annie Caulfield, Patrick Wilde, Ian Iqbal Rashid, William Gaminara, Amelia Bullmore, Joe Ahearne, Mark Davies Markham, Jimmy Gardner, Eirene Houston - **Story:** Richard Zajdlic - **Producer:** Edwina Craze, Jane Fallon - **Cast:** Jason Hughes as Warren; Andrew Lincoln as Egg; Daniela Nardini as Anna; Amita Dhiri as Milly; Jack Davenport as Miles; Steve John Shepherd as Jo; Luisa Bradshaw-White as Kira; Natasha Little as Rachel - **Release (Austria):** 18 March 1996 - **Genres:** Drama ## Where to watch in Austria Not streaming, renting or buying in Austria at the last check. Also available in: GB. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## If you liked this - *Our Friends in the North* (1996), Fi1m 88: Another ensemble whose friendships deserve as much attention as its romances. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/tv/our-friends-in-the-north.md) - *The Big Chill* (1983), Fi1m 67: For more friends discovering that adulthood has not improved their judgement. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-big-chill.md) - *The Spanish Apartment* (2002): Shared accommodation offers another reliable setting for attraction and poor decisions. - *The Worst Person in the World* (2021), Fi1m 84: A searching, funny companion for anyone still treating adulthood as provisional. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-worst-person-in-the-world.md) - *High Maintenance* (2016): Intimate encounters and unruly city lives, observed with patience and humour. --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/tv/this-life