Years and Years Review: Dystopian Drama Captures Britain’s Political Collapse

A Family at the Center of Chaos

“Years and Years” throws you straight into Britain's fast-worsening future, but it keeps everything painfully personal. The story zooms in on the Lyons family, an ordinary group from Manchester caught in the crossfire of a country in freefall. Whether it’s job losses, housing woes, or the growing presence of refugees on their doorstep, the Lyons clan feels the shockwaves of national events in real time. What sets this series apart from typical dystopian drama is how it blends the big, terrifying shifts in British society with the everyday moments—birthday dinners, hospital visits, tense political debates around the kitchen table.

The show opens in the present and quickly propels viewers through years where banking collapses, international crises, and a rising political star named Viv Rook mix to create an atmosphere of fear and instability. Emma Thompson nails Rook’s brash, populist energy—a character who morphs from joke candidate to authoritarian leader almost overnight. As her grip tightens, surveillance ramps up, protests break out, and trust in government vanishes.

Dystopia Hits Home

Russell T. Davies knows how to make the future look disturbingly familiar. Instead of distant sci-fi, he roots his story in technologies we recognize—smarter phones, AI assistants, intrusive databases—that quickly become tools of control. Tech is as much a character as any of the Lyons family, watching, nudging, and sometimes harming. Kids want to “go digital” and upload their minds to the cloud, while older family members struggle with the changing rules of work, relationships, and rights.

What gives “Years and Years” its punch is how none of the horrors feel that far-fetched. When the economy tanks, people lose their homes and savings with a speed that feels ripped from recent headlines. Immigration debates spill out in the streets, mirrored by how the Lyons try—sometimes and fail—to help those caught in the chaos. The slow drift from democracy to something much scarier happens in the background, until it suddenly dominates every conversation and life choice. Family bonds fray under the pressure, but those connections also become the only source of hope.

The show tracks key changes over more than a decade, showing how quickly normal can become unrecognizable.
The writing goes beyond broad strokes, focusing on micro-level decisions: who to trust, what to believe, and when to resist.
Performances across the cast—especially Anne Reid and Rory Kinnear—show real fear, resilience, and humor in the face of disaster.

It's not just about the spectacle of rotten politics and ruined economies; it’s the deep dive into what it actually feels like when the ground moves beneath your feet. “Years and Years” dystopian Britain doesn’t arrive overnight. It seeps into texts between siblings, late-night news flashes, and the quiet heartbreak of realizing you can’t keep your family safe from a world that refuses to hold steady.

Davies’ fearless look at populism, nationalism, and digital overreach draws you in by making every headline personal, every political shift a family crisis. “Years and Years” stands out not only for predicting the headlines, but for showing how the future won’t hit all at once—it arrives one ordinary day at a time, forcing people to choose who they're going to be when the world changes, fast.