| Worth seeing: | as a thoughtful exploration of faith, for the warmth of the central characters and the life-changing decisions they are forced to make |
| Featuring: | Keeley Hawes, Paapa Essiedu, Adrian Scarborough, Chenée Taylor, Craig Painting, David Dawson, Holly Rhys, Jason Watkins, June Watson, Niamh Cusack, Rakie Ayola, Simon Chandler, Sophie Stone, Susan Brown |
| Key crew: | Peter Hoar, Sasha Ransome, Joe Donaldson, Jack Thorne |
| Channel: | Channel 4 |
| Length: | 45 minutes |
| Episodes: | 6 |
| Broadcast date: | 19th May 2026 |
| Country: | UK |
WHAT’S IT ABOUT?
Anna (Keeley Hawes) has spent her entire adult life as a nun, in an enclosed order near Bristol. She’s still fully confident in her faith in God, but conversations with the youngest and oldest members of the convent make her question whether it’s still the right place for her.
When the local priest David (Paapa Essiedu) visits to discuss the placement of some young girls with the nuns, Anna is asked to rustle him up a snack.
Their hands brush in the kitchen. It’s enough for them both to start reconsidering the paths ahead of them.
One jumps more quickly than the other, perhaps more ready – or less in denial.
As the locals start to gossip, the abbess (Niamh Cusack) and the bishop (Jason Watkins) try to deal with the controversy from their own directions – in their own ways – one somewhat more sympathetic than the other to the unexpected situation Anna and David find themselves in.
WHAT’S IT LIKE?
The latest TV drama from Adolescence’s Jack Thorne, Falling is a sensitive of exploration of what faith means to different people – how your relationship with God manifests itself in daily life. Is it the fundamental factor in everything you do, is it a comfort blanket you fall back on, should it affect your relationships with colleagues, neighbours, friends and family?
The Catholic Church remains perhaps the only place in Western society where falling in love poses a conflict for those whose lives are driven by their faith, rather than those who simply use it as a moral code.
A nun and a priest have to question their relationship with God as they contemplate a relationship with each other.
Keeley Hawes and Paapa Essiedu deliver earnest performances but while the language in Thorne’s clearly well-researched script sounds well researched and authentic, some of the actions of the protagonists stray a little too far from credulity and for people who are making such momentous, life-changing decisions, they seem to be surprisingly casual in the way their decisions flip-flop.
This is perhaps partly because the narrative elements don’t really stretch to six 45 minute episodes, so the pacing feels slow at times, with a bit of toing-and-froing to fill, and Hawes sometimes seems oddly petulant and lacking in empathy for the position she puts Essiedu in.
Jason Watkins’ bishop is delightfully supercilious and dismissive, while Niamh Cusack’s Abbess unexpectedly comes across as, perhaps, the emotional heart of the drama, as she accepts that Anna has to make the right decision for herself, however difficult it might be for the rest of her community. But a heartless, no-nonsense bishop and a warm and nurturing nun add to the feeling that we’re getting a somewhat predictable drama-by-numbers.