BBC drama Two Weeks in August follows university friends on a Greek island holiday that unravels

A group of university friends reunites for a long-awaited summer holiday on a sun-soaked Greek island in the new BBC drama Two Weeks in August.

The friends remain connected years later, but marriage, children and mental health struggles have altered their relationships. Beneath the cocktails, boat trips and villa life, tensions rise. An illicit kiss threatens to change their lives.

Jessica Raine plays Zoe, a teacher and mother who quietly struggles to hold everything together. Damien Molony plays her husband Dan, whose depression weighs on the trip as cracks in their marriage appear.

Raine said she was drawn to the script's look at modern expectations placed on women. "There's this idea that in order to be a 'good woman', you have to sacrifice yourself for your children or your husband," she said. "And the notion that you can have it all is a complete lie."

Molony said he first thought the series was darker than it turned out to be. "I didn't know it was a comedy at first," he said. "It felt quite tragic." He described Dan as someone who tries to smile for the camera but no longer knows how.

Antonia Thomas, who plays Jess, said the series shows what happens when people who once knew each other well realise how much they have changed. "There's a real hopefulness about booking a nice villa somewhere and thinking everyone's going to have a great time together," she said. "But people change. They're not the same people they were 10 years ago."

Thomas said the gap between expectation and reality creates tension. "It becomes a kind of pressure cooker," she said. "Everyone falls back into old roles, even if they don't fit anymore."

Writer Catherine Shepherd has addressed comparisons to The White Lotus. She said the American series focuses on super-rich people, while Two Weeks in August follows relatively normal people with normal concerns. The series was filmed in Malta and Gozo and also stars Leila Farzad and Hugh Skinner.

Nicholas Pinnock, who plays actor Solomon, said the show carries a British outlook. "People are trying to avoid the thing that's staring them in the face and brushing things under the carpet until eventually it all ignites," he said.

The drama gradually weaves in Greek mythology, including the figures known as The Fates or Moirai, which become central to Zoe's emotional unravelling. Raine said the mythological element was one of the script's biggest surprises.