Patrick Melrose to screen at Series Mania

UK-US drama Patrick Melrose will have its Australian premiere at Series Mania in Melbourne next month, with writer David Nicholls as a special guest.

Free tickets for the Benedict Cumberbatch drama are available at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image, screening on Friday July 20, just days ahead of BBC First broadcast. The industry event with David Nicholls is ticketed at $18.

The full Series Mania Melbourne program will be revealed on June 27 at acmi.net.au.

Starring Oscar® nominee and Emmy® winner Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock Holmes, The Imitation Game and Doctor Strange) as Patrick Melrose, and featuring Hugo Weaving and Jennifer Jason Leigh, the series is adapted from the novels of Edward St Aubyn.

At once harrowing and hilarious, the series tracks Patrick, a member of the British upper class, from a privileged but deeply traumatic childhood in the South of France through severe substance abuse in his twenties in New York and, ultimately, toward recovery back home.

Critics are raving, describing Patrick Melrose as “a headlong triumph in every department” (The Telegraph UK), “an award-worthy mini-series” (The Independent), and a “tight, intelligent adaptation” (The Guardian), with Variety describing Cumberbatch’s performance as “riveting”.

As well as being a celebrated screenwriter, Nicholls is also the author of bestsellers Starter For Ten and One Day, both of which have been adapted for the screen. One Day has sold 5 million copies around the world and been published in over 40 languages. Nicholls’ latest novel Us was long-listed for the Man Booker Prize and in the year it was published (2014), Nicholls won UK Author of the Year at the National Book Awards.

Nicholls worked as an actor before moving into script-editing for theatre, radio and TV. His first produced screenplay was an adaptation of Sam Shepard’s play Simpatico, starring Jeff

Bridges, Sharon Stone and Albert Finney. He then worked in British TV for several years, writing episodes of Cold Feet, as well as original series Rescue Me and I Saw You.

Nicholls’ screen-writing credits include adaptations of Tess of the d’Urbervilles and original contemporary drama The 7.39, all for the BBC. As well as his own novels, Nicholls has adapted Blake Morrison’s memoir And When Did You Last See Your Father? starring Jim Broadbent and Colin Firth, Dickens’ Great Expectations with Ralph Fiennes and Helena Bonham-Carter, and the 2015 adaptation of Hardy’s Far from the Madding Crowd featuring Carey Mulligan.

Nicholls will take part in the Series Mania Melbourne Industry Day on Friday July 20. Patrick Melrose will screen to the public on Friday July 20, followed by an In Conversation with Nicholls.

Patrick Melrose will air in Australia on BBC First, from July 23 at 9:30pm.