{"id":43860,"date":"2025-02-18T16:36:03","date_gmt":"2025-02-18T21:36:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/entertainment\/best-interests-is-a-deeply-empathetic-british-series\/18\/02\/2025\/"},"modified":"2025-02-18T16:36:03","modified_gmt":"2025-02-18T21:36:03","slug":"best-interests-is-a-deeply-empathetic-british-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/entertainment\/best-interests-is-a-deeply-empathetic-british-series\/18\/02\/2025\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Best Interests\u2019 Is a Deeply Empathetic British Series"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-0\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">There are no villains in \u201cBest Interests,\u201d a heartbreaking limited series that arrives on Acorn TV on Monday. Instead, the series, a four-part British drama starring Sharon Horgan and Michael Sheen, is about two people in impossible circumstances who are trying to do what they think is right.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The episodes follow Nicci (Horgan) and Andrew (Sheen), a married couple whose daughter Marnie (Niamh Moriarty) has a form of muscular dystrophy. Early on, the cheerful Marnie ends up in the hospital with an infection that leads ultimately to brain damage. Her doctor (Noma Dumezweni) recommends stopping treatment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">This is where Nicci and Andrew, whom we immediately understand to be dedicated parents, diverge. Andrew looks at his child and believes the girl he once knew is gone; Nicci sees a callous system that wants her disabled daughter to die. The writer <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2019\/09\/04\/theater\/jack-thorne-his-dark-materials.html\" title=\"\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Jack Thorne<\/a>, known for \u201cHis Dark Materials,\u201d never allows one side to be the \u201cright\u201d one. Horgan\u2019s passion convinces you there is a chance for Marnie; Sheen\u2019s despair makes you believe there isn\u2019t.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In the middle there is Nicci and Andrew\u2019s other daughter, Katie, played by Alison Oliver of <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/05\/13\/arts\/television\/conversations-withfriends-hulu-bbc.html\" title=\"\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">\u201cConversations With Friends.\u201d<\/a> Katie is a teen who has always existed in the shadow of her high-needs sister. She copes by sneaking cigarettes and wants desperately to appease both her parents. While Oliver portrays Katie\u2019s pain well, her story ends up being the weakest because of an ill-advised plotline involving a bad girlfriend and the theft of Marnie\u2019s unused drugs. It is the most outlandish the series gets.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-1\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cBest Interests\u201d is at its most fascinating, though, when it invests in the emotional compromises all these people make as they try to fight for Marnie. Andrew is shocked, for instance, that Nicci would align herself with a Christian organization, which is likely anti-abortion, in order to pursue a court case against the hospital. Nicci, on the other hand, sees Andrew\u2019s resistance as abandonment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Horgan and Sheen propel the show with their wonderfully complicated performances. Horgan, best known for sharp-edged comedies like \u201cCatastrophe\u201d and \u201cBad Sisters,\u201d brings wry humor to Nicci even in her character\u2019s darkest moments. But she also depicts the unimaginable agony of a parent in limbo. In Sheen\u2019s dejected, empathetic depiction of Andrew, you see how crushed he is by the notion that Marnie is already gone.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Sadly, the voice that is missing is Marnie\u2019s. Her life is rendered through flashbacks that feel like rosy, one-dimensional glimpses of what once was. But as a depiction of what happens once she can no longer speak for herself, \u201cBest Interests\u201d is devastatingly complex.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/02\/18\/arts\/television\/best-interests-acorn-tv.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There are no villains in &ldquo;Best Interests,&rdquo; a heartbreaking limited series that arrives on Acorn TV on Monday. Instead, the series, a<br \/><button class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/entertainment\/best-interests-is-a-deeply-empathetic-british-series\/18\/02\/2025\/\">Read More &rsaquo;<\/a><\/button><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":43862,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43860"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43860"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43860\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43862"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}