'Alice & Steve' Puts Nicola Walker in an "Anti-Romcom"
Nicola Walker's next series, 'Alice & Steve,' will probably be lost on Hulu, but that doesn't mean it's not worth watching.
Nicola Walker is one of those BBC actors who has never seemed to actively try to make the leap across the pond for Hollywood-style fame. Instead, she became a slow-burn household name to PBS viewers simply by showing up and taking risks. Most Americans first saw her as Gillian in Last Tango in Halifax before she took on the role of the lead detective in Unforgotten. But once she’d reached the point where she could be selective about what parts she took, instead of playing it safe, she’s gone out on a limb every time. Annika had serious fundamental flaws and eventually wrote itself into a corner, but it was also fun as hell; Marriage was fascinating, if too understated; The Split was a deeply odd car crash that came back for more.
Now, Walker is heading out onto a limb again in what may be a spectacular flop, but one worth watching anyway: Alice & Steve. She plays the titular Alice, a single mother of an adult daughter, Izzy (Yali Topol Margalith). The series begins when her entire world emotionally implodes as her lifelong best friend, Steve (Jemaine Clement), announces he’s finally in his first relationship in decades... with Izzy.
Mess, as they say, ensues. Izzy is an adult; she’s making her own choices. But Steve is (or was) something of a father figure in her life, and all Alice can see is the incestuous vibes and a growing horror that everything she assumed about Steve was wrong. Oh, and did I mention this is billed as a comedy?
Here’s the series synopsis:
Alice is devastated when her best friend Steve starts dating her 26-year-old daughter, Izzy. She’s going to lose her best friend and her daughter in one fell swoop. Alice tries everything she can to end the relationship. Unfortunately for her, Steve’s more than ready for the attack, and what begins as a perfect friendship devolves into an all-out feud.
A hilarious, messy, and complicated exploration of friendship, family, and love, Alice and Steve is an anti-romantic comedy that asks the question, how far would you go for love - or revenge? Will Alice forgive Steve? Will Steve and Izzy make a relationship work? Amongst all the questions hanging in the balance, one thing is certain: their lives will never be the same again.
Walker, Clement (Time Bandits), and Margalith (A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder) star alongside Joel Fry (Our Flag Means Death) as Izzy’s friend Daniel. The supporting cast includes Tyrese Eaton-Dyce (Sherwood), Marcia Warren (The Crown), Eilidh Fisher (Dope Girls), and Ebony Aboagye (Mood).
The half-hour series was created and written by Sophie Goodhart (Sex Education), with director Tom Kingsley (This Is Going to Hurt) helming all six installments, with Fran du Pille producing. Petra Fried, Andy Baker, and Wim De Greef executive produce for Clerkenwell Films.
The series is bound for Disney+ in the U.K. and expected to debut before the end of 2026. That means for Americans, it will almost certainly wind up on Hulu as a binge dump, and probably with little to no fanfare. We’ll keep our eyes open for it anyway.
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