Benedict Cumberbatch Struggles With Major Daddy Issues, Sobriety in ‘Patrick Melrose’ Trailer (Video)

TCA 2018: “It’s a f—ing nightmare being lucid,” Patrick complains while getting clean

You ain’t seen nothing until you’ve seen Benedict Cumberbatch lose his cool in the first official trailer for “Patrick Melrose.”

In the trailer which Showtime dropped during their Television Critics Association panel on Saturday, the dark dramedy takes jabs at the upper class as it tracks Patrick’s journey through a deeply traumatic childhood and his resulting substance abuse and recovery as an adult, per the premium-TV channel’s official description.

While the show (which is set in the South of France in the 1960s, New York in the 1980s and Britain in the early 2000s) is sure to be a tough pill to swallow for some, the trailer is packed with one-liners that lighten up the serious topics. As Patrick puts it when he starts to sober up, “it’s a f—ing nightmare being lucid.”

The series also stars Jennifer Jason Leigh (“The Hateful Eight), Hugo Weaving (“The Matrix”), Anna Madeley (“The Crown”), Blythe Danner (“Meet the Fockers”), Allison Williams (“Girls”), Pip Torrens (“The Crown”), Jessica Raine (“Call the Midwife”), Prasanna Puwanarajah (“Doctor Foster”), Holliday Grainger (“Bonnie & Clyde”), Indira Varma (“Game of Thrones”) and Celia Imrie (“Bridget Jones’s Baby”).

The co-production between Showtime and Sky Atlantic is executive produced by Michael Jackson and Rachael Horovitz. Jackson, the former Channel Four and IAC executive, recently formed the drama banner Two Cities Television. It will be the company’s first production. Cumberbatch will executive produce along with Adam Ackland for SunnyMarch, and Helen Flint serves as executive producer for Little Island Productions.

Watch the trailer for “Patrick Melrose” above.

An official premiere date has yet to be set for “Patrick Melrose,” though Showtime says the series will hit later this year.

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