‘Patrick Melrose’ trailer: Benedict Cumberbatch is outrageous playboy in new period drama

The first trailer has been unveiled for new decade-spanning TV saga Patrick Melrose.

Set in the South of France in the 60s, New York in the 80s and Britain in the early 2000s, the five-part drama series is based on the acclaimed semi-autobiographical novels by Edward St Aubyn.

Described as “subversive, savage and above all funny”, Patrick Melrose “skewers the upper class as it tracks its protagonist’s outrageous journey, from a deeply traumatic childhood through to adult substance abuse and, ultimately, towards recovery.”

Benedict Cumberbatch leads an all-star cast that also includes Hugo Weaving (The Lord of the Rings), Jennifer Jason Leigh (The Hateful Eight), 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 (Strike), Indira Varma (Game of Thrones) and Celia Imrie (Bridget Jones’s Baby).

Watch the trailer:

Each episode will adapt one of Edward St Aubyn’s five novels.

Patrick Melrose premieres later this year in the UK on Sky Atlantic and in the US on Showtime.