‘Finding Alice’: The dark British comedy defying Netflix expectations
Grief is messy. And sometimes, it is funny in ways you cannot explain. And it will be like that until you watch Finding Alice. The six-part British drama on Netflix starring Keeley Hawes is not your typical tearjerker. It is part mystery, part tragedy, and, surprisingly, part comedy. As it heads to Netflix on August 1, Finding Alice is quietly setting itself up as the summer’s most unexpected binge-watch.
Originally aired on ITV in 2021, the show opens with a death. Alice (played by Hawes) has just moved into the dream home her husband Harry designed. A beautiful, confusing architectural marvel full of impractical spaces and odd corners. In short, it’s a “smart house”. On their very first night, Harry falls down the stairs and dies. Don’t be saddened, as this is not a spoiler. It is the plot.
The best part about Finding Alice does not dwell in the melodrama. Instead, it steers you into something sharper. Alice is grieving, sure. But she is also confused, broke, locked out of her garage, and increasingly suspicious that her late husband was not the man she thought she knew. The show is about unravelling secrets and adding twists to the plot. Along with the secrets, Alice’s patience with politeness is wickedly entertaining to watch.
The show is full of dry British wit, understated chaos, and a rotating door of passive-aggressive relatives and bureaucrats. Joanna Lumley plays Alice’s mother with the perfect mix of cold affection and baffling wisdom, while Nigel Havers brings charm as her disapproving father. Add in a chaotic best friend, hidden debts, and some mild criminality, and Finding Alice becomes a strangely addictive cocktail.
What makes the series stand out is its tone. It is deeply emotional without drowning in sadness. It leans into the absurdities of grief with a side of the paperwork, the awkward condolences, and the maddening silence of people not knowing what to say. Keeley Hawes delivers a performance that is both grounded and unpredictable. One minute, she is weeping into a tea towel. Next, she is delivering a deadpan insult at a funeral. It is that balance of pain and dry humour that gives Finding Alice its bite.
And the house, well, let’s talk about the house. It is practically a character of its own. Designed by the late Harry, it is stunning, impractical, and metaphorically perfect, much like Harry himself.
Though the show starts with a slow burn, it gradually peels back layers of deception and emotional weight. There are no jump scares, no outlandish plot twists. But there is suspense and a clever undercurrent of danger beneath the domestic setting.
Some viewers may come for the mystery, hoping to solve what Harry was hiding. Others may stay for Alice’s spiralling attempts to piece her life together in the most awkward, relatable ways. Either way, the show rewards patience. It is not flashy, but it is deeply human.
So, if you are in the mood for something that feels like Fleabag met Big Little Lies in a very British living room, Finding Alice might just be it. This Netflix show is not here to scream for your attention. But it will quietly crawl under your skin and maybe make you laugh when you least expect it.