| The Change | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Dark comedy Comedy-drama Surreal humour |
| Created by | Bridget Christie |
| Written by | Bridget Christie |
| Directed by | Al Campbell Mackenzie Crook |
| Starring |
|
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language | English |
| No. of series | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 12 |
| Production | |
| Executive producers |
|
| Producer | Lisa Mitchell |
| Production company | Expectation Entertainment |
| Original release | |
| Network | Channel 4 |
| Release | 21 June 2023 – present |
The Change is a British comedy drama series starring, written and created by Bridget Christie for Channel 4 and co-directed Mackenzie Crook. Regular cast members include Susan Lynch, Jim Howick, Jerome Flynn, Paul Whitehouse, Liza Tarbuck and Omid Djalili. A second series was broadcast in March 2025.
The show's end credits music is Hares on the Mountain performed by Shirley Collins and Ian Kearey.
Linda (Christie) has an existential crisis at the age of 50 after being informed she has started the menopause. She finds her old Triumph motorcycle and goes on a pilgrimage around her old haunts in the Forest of Dean. [1]
| No. | Title [2] | Directed by | Written by | Original release date [2] | U.K. viewers (millions) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Episode 1" | Al Campbell | Bridget Christie | 21 June 2023 | N/A | |
After being told she is going through the menopause, Linda heads to the Forest of Dean to find a time capsule she hid in a tree, trying to reconnect with the person she used to be. | ||||||
| 2 | "Episode 2" | Al Campbell | Bridget Christie | 21 June 2023 | N/A | |
Trying to locate the time capsule, Linda runs into Pig Man, who maybe knows about her more than he lets on. | ||||||
| 3 | "Episode 3" | Al Campbell | Bridget Christie | 28 June 2023 | N/A | |
Linda interrupts the town meeting after stumbling upon crucial information. | ||||||
| 4 | "Episode 4" | Al Campbell | Bridget Christie | 28 June 2023 | N/A | |
Linda receives a visit from her sister Siobhain, who is very displeased with Linda's newfound community. | ||||||
| 5 | "Episode 5" | Al Campbell | Bridget Christie | 5 July 2023 | N/A | |
Ahead of the town festival, Linda bonds with the Eel sisters and Joy. | ||||||
| 6 | "Episode 6" | Al Campbell | Bridget Christie | 5 July 2023 | N/A | |
The transformed Eel Festival threatens to disrupt the delicate harmony in the village. | ||||||
The second series was made available prior to linear broadcast on Channel 4 on-demand for subscribers to its paid Channel 4+ tier on 11 March 2025. [3]
In July 2022 the series started filming, and Howick, Djalili, Whitehouse, Tarbuck and Dolan joined the cast. [4] Later, Susan Lynch was revealed to have joined the cast as an Eel sister. [5] Filming took place on location in the Forest of Dean. [6] Christie was brought up in near the Forest of Dean, and had in 2021 experienced some of the symptoms explored in the series. [7] [8] [9]
A second series was confirmed in May 2024 with filming locations including Chepstow in July 2024. [10] [11]
The series began airing on Channel 4 on 21 June 2023. [12] The second series premiered on Channel 4 on 25 March 2025. [13]
The Evening Standard awarded the show four stars out of five, calling it "joyful" and observing that "[while] it is cutting both in its humour and its astute social commentary, it is also immensely warm, grounded in familial community and nostalgic in a way that is hard to define." [14] The Guardian also gave four stars out of five, declaring it "like nothing else on TV" and identifying Christie's protagonist as "the role model we've all been waiting for.". [12] Comedy website Chortle also gave it four stars, calling it 'sardonic yet surreal' [15]
Hollie Richardson in The Guardian subsequently reviewed the final episode of the first series as "gorgeous", "life-affirming", and "the most profound finale of the year." [16] Chitra Ramaswamy in The Guardian gave the second series five stars describing it as "ambitious, surreal, moving, and above all hysterically funny". [17]
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the first series has a 92% approval rating based on 12 critics' reviews, with an average rating of 8.0/10. [18] The second series has 100% approval from 6 critics, with average rating 8.8/10. [19]
In February 2024, the series was nominated at the Broadcast Awards in the Best Comedy Programme category. [20] That month, it was also nominated in the Best TV Show category at the Chortle Awards. [21] Christie was nominated for Best Writer - Comedy at the Royal Television Society Programme Awards. [22] In March 2024, Christie was nominated in the Female performance in a comedy programme category at the 2024 British Academy Television Awards. [23]
In August 2024, Christie won Best Actress - Comedy at the Edinburgh TV Awards at the Edinburgh International Television Festival. [24]