By Lacy Baugher for Drama on December 7th, 2017

Benedict Cumberbatch Drama ‘The Child in Time’ Gets U.S. Premiere Date

Benedict Cumberbatch and Kelly McDonald in "The Child in Time" (Photo: (Photo: Courtesy of Pinewood Television, SunnyMarch TV and MASTERPIECE for BBC One and MASTERPIECE)

Benedict Cumberbatch’s latest television drama finally has a U.S. airdate!

(And, no, before anyone asks, it’s not another season of Sherlock. Sorry in advance.)

Cumberbatch’s latest small screen effort is The Child in Time, a feature length drama based on award-winning author Ian McEwan’s critically acclaimed novel of the same name.

The ninety-minute production will officially premiere on PBS stations nationwide on Sunday, April 1, 2018 at 8pm.      

Here’s the official word straight from the Masterpiece Twitter account:

The Child in Time, based on Ian McEwan’s acclaimed novel and starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Kelly Macdonald, will premiere on MASTERPIECE on @PBS on Sunday, April 1, 2018 at 9/8c! pic.twitter.com/cRwYcw4hZk

— Masterpiece PBS (@masterpiecepbs) December 6, 2017

Cumberbatch produced as well as starred in the small screen adaptation of McEwan’s novel. He plays Stephen Lewis, a successful children’s book author whose life is blown apart when his daughter goes missing during a trip to the supermarket. The story is set two years after her disappearance, and it explores Stephen’s struggle to find purpose in his life without her.

Boardwalk Empire’s Kelly Macdonald stars as Stephen’s estranged wife Julia, while Stephen Campbell Moore and Saskia Reeves play the couple’s best friends, Charles and Thelma.

Watch the first trailer for The Child in Time below: 

 

Since we’re still several months away from US broadcast, it’s likely that we might get a second clip promoting the show a little closer to its airdate. (This is basically just the original British trailer with the Masterpiece logo swapped in.) Fingers crossed!    

 The feature length drama originally aired on the BBC in the Fall of 2017. It received mixed reviews from both critics and viewers, but I’m going to go out on a limb that Cumberbatch enthusiasts probably liked it just fine. (In my experience, McEwan’s work is generally something of an acquired taste.)

 Are you looking forward to The Child in Time? It’s been a while since we’ve seen something new from Cumberbatch on TV!

By Lacy Baugher for Drama on December 7th, 2017
Lacy Baugher

Lacy's love of British TV is embarrassingly extensive, but primarily centers around evangelizing all things Doctor Who, and watching as many period dramas as possible.

Digital media type by day, she also has a fairly useless degree in British medieval literature, and dearly loves to talk about dream poetry, liminality, and the medieval religious vision. (Sadly, that opportunity presents itself very infrequently.) York apologist, Ninth Doctor enthusiast, and unabashed Ravenclaw. Say hi on Threads or Blue Sky at @LacyMB. 

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  • 'The Child in Time' Recap

    The Child in Time is one of those dramas that doesn’t turn out to be quite the story you think it is. On the surface, it’s a tale about a lost child. But, it also isn’t, in the most basic sense. The drama isn’t about the search for the missing Kate and it (spoiler alert!) offers little resolution about what happened to her. Her parents (spoiler alert, again!) don’t get her back. There’s no happy ending. She remains forever apart, both present and absent, a Schroedinger’s cat of a girl who is somehow both alive and dead for the purposes of this narrative. If you were looking for a crime thriller, a dramatic mystery or even a linear story that makes sense, you’re surely bound to be disappointed here.

    Instead, The Child in Time is a meditation on loss and grief, telling the story of what it takes to move past the worst thing that’s ever happened to you. In short: It’s kind of a lot for an evening on Easter Sunday, though those that stick through it may find the performances contained within worthwhile. (Or, at least, I did.) The acting is top notch and the emotions feel gut-wrenchingly real. However, if you find yourself wishing the story perhaps spent a bit more time on Kate herself or the particulars behind her disappearance rather than the gamut of British political thought about child rearing or a weirdo subplot about a grown man’s descent into what appears to be childlike madness, trust me, you’re not alone.

    By Lacy Baugher for Drama on 4/2/2018
    Benedict Cumberbatch and Kelly Macdonald in "The Child in Time" (Photo: Courtesy of Pinewood Television, SunnyMarch TV and MASTERPIECE for BBC One and MASTERPIECE)