---
title: "Youth"
year: 2026
kind: "series"
canonical: "https://film.one/tv/youth"
fi1m_id: "youth"
imdb_id: "tt35949226"
tmdb_id: 285418
fi1m_score: 76
critics_score: 83
critics_reviews: 8
published: "2026-09-20"
updated: "2026-09-30T06:00:52.695032+00:00"
region: "US"
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."
---

# Youth (2026)

Created by Sharon Horgan · MPA TV-MA · Comedy, Drama

## Identity

Youth

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/tv/youth
- **Type:** Series
- **Fi1m ID:** youth
- **IMDb ID:** tt35949226
- **TMDB ID:** 285418
- **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt35949226/, https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/285418

**Fi1m score: 76** · Critics 83 from 8 reviews

*In a sentence:* Sharon Horgan hits fifty and her body files a formal complaint; the series is the appeal

> Sharon Horgan turns the menopause into a comedy of bad decisions and has the nerve to play it without asking for sympathy. It is funny, honest about the body and slighter about the heart, and it is best when she is on screen, which is most of the time.

## Synopsis

Sharon Horgan plays a woman arriving at fifty with her life more or less intact and her body no longer taking instructions. The eight episodes follow her through the physical business of menopause, a job that still expects things of her, a family with its own opinions, and a romantic life she keeps restarting without a plan. Horgan created the series and writes herself a woman who knows exactly how badly she is behaving and does it anyway. Rupert Friend, Sharlene Whyte, Aran Murphy and Robbie Gee are the people in her orbit, some of them helping and some of them not. The tagline is “Not wasted yet”, and the first episodes set out to test whether that is true.

## Review

Sharon Horgan has spent twenty years writing women who make poor decisions in full knowledge that they are poor. *Pulling* did it in a flat share, [*Catastrophe*](https://film.one/tv/catastrophe-2015) did it in a marriage, [*Bad Sisters*](https://film.one/tv/bad-sisters) did it with a corpse. [*Youth*](https://film.one/film/youth-2015), which she created and leads, gives her the subject those shows were circling all along: a woman at fifty whose body has stopped cooperating and whose judgement was never much good to begin with. It is good, often funny, and worth your evening if you have ever been fifty or worried about becoming it. It is also lighter than it looks, and we will come to that.

The pitch is the tagline, “Not wasted yet”, and the series takes it as a dare. Horgan’s woman is not in crisis in the way television usually means it. Nobody has died and nobody has left. What has happened is smaller and less dignified: her body has started doing things at inconvenient moments, her work still expects her to turn up sharp, her family has views, and she has decided, against most of the evidence, that romance is still available to her. The show treats each of these as a comic problem first and a sad one second, which is the right order.

Horgan the performer is the reason it works. She has always been good at playing intelligence badly applied, and here she plays a woman who can see her own mistakes coming and makes them anyway, out of appetite. She does not soften the physical stuff. She lets a joke about her own body run on past the laugh, until it stops being a joke and becomes a fact she has to live with, and then she moves on without comment. We laughed more than we had expected to, and then, once or twice, we went quiet, because the show had not cut away when we assumed it would. That is the honesty the reviews so far have praised, and they are right about it.

Rupert Friend, Sharlene Whyte, Aran Murphy and Robbie Gee are around her, and the writing is generous to them without ever being about them. This is a one-woman show with company, and it knows it. The supporting parts are drawn well enough that you would happily spend more time with any of them, and thinly enough that you rarely do. Friend in particular is used sparingly, and the series is slightly better when he is in it than when he is not.

The weakness is that the romantic flailing, which is the spine the series has chosen for itself, is the least interesting thing in it. The scenes about work and about the body have something to tell you that television has mostly avoided. The scenes about dating tell you things you have heard before, and Horgan knows it; she plays them quickly, as if slightly embarrassed to be there. The result is a series that is easy to like and easy to put down. Eight episodes go past briskly, and a few of them leave nothing behind. Most critics have called it breezy as a compliment. We would call it breezy and mean it both ways.

Set against Horgan’s own work, it sits below [*Catastrophe*](https://film.one/tv/catastrophe-2015), which had Rob Delaney across the table to argue with. Here she is arguing with herself, and she wins too easily. It is warmer than *Pulling* and less ambitious than [*Bad Sisters*](https://film.one/tv/bad-sisters), and it has something neither of those had, which is a subject that most of its audience is going through or dreading and that television has treated, until recently, as a punchline for other people.

Watch it two episodes at a time, with someone who is either your age or frightened of it. Do not expect it to stay with you long. Expect to laugh, and to recognise a good deal more than is comfortable.

*Fi1m score 76, published 20 September 2026.*

## What the critics say

All eight reviews are positive, and the praise gathers around Sharon Horgan. Critics find the series sharply funny and unusually frank about menopause, sex in one’s fifties, divorce and the years spent caring for both a teenager and ageing parents. Several read it as a coming-of-age story for a woman of 50, and most credit Horgan’s writing and screen presence for keeping the indignities sympathetic rather than cruel. The Times places it as the third part of a loose run that began with Pulling and Catastrophe.

The spread is narrow, from the mid-70s to 90, and nobody dislikes it. Reservations are mild. IndieWire finds the premise familiar and says the specific insights and steady laughs are what carry it; Variety calls it light and breezy, which reads as a limit as much as a compliment. Radio Times, the lowest, still calls it agonisingly honest. The AV Club’s grade rests on the premiere alone, so its warmth comes with a caveat about how much has been seen.

## Straight answers

**Is Youth worth watching?**

*Youth* is worth watching for anyone who has been fifty or is worried about becoming it, and we scored it 76. Sharon Horgan turns the menopause into a comedy of bad decisions and plays it without asking for sympathy, and the scenes about work and the body are honest in ways television has mostly avoided. The romantic strand is the weakest part, and the eight episodes pass briskly without staying long.

**How long is Youth, and what is it rated?**

*Youth* is rated TV-MA by the MPA in the US. It is a comedy and drama series.

**Where can I watch Youth in the US?**

*Youth* is not on any streaming or rental service in the US at the moment. Availability is checked daily.

**How violent or frightening is Youth, and is it suitable for children?**

*Youth* has no violence to speak of and nothing frightening; it is an adult comedy about a woman's body and behaviour at fifty. The US TV-MA rating points to frank talk about menopause, sex and bad decisions rather than anything alarming. It is not made for children and would bore them; teenagers may find it uncomfortable rather than upsetting.

**How does Youth compare to Somebody Somewhere?**

*Youth* is the brisker, funnier and slighter of the two; [*Somebody Somewhere*](https://film.one/tv/somebody-somewhere) is the better series and the one that stays with you. Horgan's show is a one-woman comedy about the body at fifty that treats its problems as jokes first, while Everett's is slower, almost without plot, and about grief and friendship in a Kansas town. Choose *Youth* for laughs across an evening and *Somebody Somewhere* if you want to be moved.

### Reviews we read (8)

- **The Guardian** (90/100, inferred): The review finds Sharon Horgan’s dramedy utterly hilarious and acutely observed as it lays bare the perils of ageing and the horrors of post-divorce dating at 50. It singles out the show’s mordantly funny, vérité take on caregiving, family dynamics and sex in middle age for particular praise. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2026/sep/19/youth-sharon-horgans-comedy-dating-at-50-hbo-max)
- **The Hollywood Reporter**, Angie Han (85/100, inferred): The critic calls it a fun, frisky, bracingly honest portrait of midlife, singling out Horgan's unsparing honesty and wit in depicting the physical and emotional challenges of aging alongside a woman's uncertain flailing. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-reviews/youth-review-sharon-horgan-hbo-1236704359/)
- **The Times** (85/100, inferred): The review calls Horgan’s comedy filthy, truthful and very funny as she tackles menopause, ageing parents, a truculent teenager and sex in her fifties. It positions the series as the next instalment in her loose trilogy after Pulling and Catastrophe. [Read](https://www.thetimes.com/culture/tv-radio/article/youth-review-sharon-horgan-7bhxbllfx)
- **Vulture** (85/100, inferred): The review portrays Youth as a funny coming-of-age tale for 50-somethings, balancing humor and tenderness toward its flawed protagonist as she navigates menopause, family, work, and romance. It succeeds as an unflinching menopausal bildungsroman that sees youth as both desirable and burdensome. [Read](https://www.vulture.com/article/sharon-horgan-youth-hbo-review.html)
- **The AV Club**, Danette Chavez (B+): The critic finds the series premiere bawdy fun and witty, praising Horgan's skill in introducing relatable characters and exploring middle-age indignities with sympathy and insight. It singles out the honest, feminine perspective on sex and aging for praise. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/youth-premiere-recap-sharon-horgan-lockjaw-wagon-burner)
- **IndieWire**, Ben Travers (80/100, inferred): The critic finds Sharon Horgan's return to HBO with this mid-life comedy familiar in premise yet refreshing due to its specific insights, strong performances, and steady laughs. It explores what one must sacrifice with age while affirming fun as a fundamental right. [Read](https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/shows/youth-review-hbo-sharon-horgan-series-fun-1235216916/)
- **Variety**, Alison Herman (80/100, inferred): The critic describes it as a light, breezy take on middle age, praising Sharon Horgan's sharp comic writing and magnetic screen presence in showing one woman's romantic flailing and self-discovery at 50. [Read](https://variety.com/2026/tv/reviews/youth-review-sharon-horgan-hbo-1236866119/)
- **Radio Times**, Jack Seale (75/100, inferred): The critic praises the series as an agonisingly honest comedy drawing on real life, highlighting its frank look at sex in middle age and the sandwich years of caring for both children and parents. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/programme/b-ehi9bu/youth/)

## Details

- **Created by:** Sharon Horgan
- **Creator:** Sharon Horgan
- **Cast:** Sharon Horgan; Rupert Friend; Sharlene Whyte; Aran Murphy; Robbie Gee
- **Certificate (MPA):** TV-MA
- **Release (the US):** 20 September 2026
- **Genres:** Comedy, Drama
- **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwuDMSlErkk

## Where to watch in the US

Not streaming, renting or buying in the US at the last check.

## If you liked this

- *Catastrophe* (2015): Horgan and Rob Delaney fall into a marriage; the sharpest thing she has written
- *Gloria* (2013): A Chilean woman in her late fifties goes dancing and refuses to be pitied
- *Better Things* (2016): Pamela Adlon raising three daughters alone, funny and unbothered about being liked
- *Mum* (2016): Lesley Manville widowed in suburbia; quiet, kind and quietly savage about relatives
- *Somebody Somewhere* (2022), Fi1m 85: Bridget Everett stuck in Kansas at midlife, finding people worth staying for — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/tv/somebody-somewhere.md)

---
© 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/youth