Acorn TV's 'Finding Alice' is Black Humor at Its Best

Director Roger Golby, and writer Simon Nye, the team responsible for The Durrells in Corfu, join forces again with their former lead actress Keeley Hawes for Finding Alice, the latest offering from streaming service Acorn TV, by way of U.K. network ITV. But where The Durrells was sweet and humorous, Finding Alice is a study in black humor, pushing boundaries of taste with great gusto.

Hawes plays Alice Dillon, searching for answers after a family tragedy. But what is the series really about? Is it a meditation on grief and loss? Roughly speaking, yes. Alice, a woman whose inhibitions are so destroyed by grief she can barely let out a sentence without a generous helping of curses, fires stinging one-liners at well-meaning strangers as well as her nearest and dearest. Has she always been this way? We don't know. And is she finding herself, or does the title mean something else entirely?

Yes, the show is a family drama. But it's also an examination of corruption and dishonesty, lies, and cover-ups.  Since there’s a Season 2 in the works, we’ll have to wait to see exactly what has been going on. Cheekily, a tantalizing comment is dropped minutes before the end of the last episode. It is not for the faint-hearted in its savage humor and, really, only British TV could have the chutzpah to create a series about sudden death and loss during a pandemic.