The has set out 2 Weeks In August, an eight-part drama about a gang of former university friends whose Greek villa holiday quickly turns awkward. In the first episode, Leila Farzad’s Nat is pushed onto a pull-out bed in an under-the-stairs nook, and the trip’s pecking order is established before anyone has unpacked properly.
That is why the show is likely to draw attention now. It takes a familiar holiday fantasy and strips it down to the small humiliations that can make a group trip feel like a negotiation: who gets the best room, who pays for what, who notices the cost of everything, and who ends up pretending not to mind.
Hugh Skinner plays Jacob, the only other single guest until his new love interest arrives unexpectedly and shifts Nat further down the accommodation hierarchy. Around them are Nicholas Pinnock as Solomon, Antonia Thomas as Jess, Jessica Raine as Zoe and Damien Molony as Dan, filling a villa where status is measured in bedrooms, not titles.
Solomon and Jess appear to glide past the chaos caused by their young son, while the rest of the house tries to maintain a polite front. The result is a set of cringe-inducing stand-offs over dinner, including one moment when someone has failed to mention they are vegetarian before another couple starts cooking. In the middle of all that, Dan sums up the mood with the line: “Nothing fun ever happens when someone says ‘It’ll be fun’.”
That is what gives the series its edge. Zoe and Dan are already under strain because she is on a teacher’s salary and his business has just gone bust, so even the idea of a carefree break comes loaded with money worries and silent calculations. The holiday may have been sold as a chance to reconnect in 30C heat, but the drama makes clear that friendships can sour fastest when comfort, cash and sleeping space are all being counted at once.
What happens after the villa’s first round of polite smiles is not revealed here, and that is part of the appeal. 2 Weeks In August is set up as a story about how quickly a reunion can turn into diplomacy, and the real question is not whether the friends will clash, but how long they can keep pretending the holiday is still relaxing.
