Russell T Davies on Years and Years' "perfect ending": "I'm afraid that's it"

Deadline

Davies' BBC/HBO dystopian mystery drama ended its brief first season Monday night by raising some questions. "Will we ever know? What’s the truth these days? That’s the whole point to that ending, what’s true, what’s false? Can we believe in anything?" says Davies, who created Years and Years. When asked if Years and Years could return for a second season, he responds: "No, I’m afraid that’s it. I mean, that’s such a perfect ending. It was always devised as a one-off for the BBC. It was originally pitched to them as just six episodes, and I always knew that we’d end on that question." Davies also says of Years and Years: "I wanted to show every single stage that is happening around us now, in real life and in the story. The Brexit Channel has done similar things post-referendum here, this is becoming the darkest time in this country. What a ridiculous parade of clowns that is that the Brexit Channel now exists, and these tricks are being pulled on us all over the world. Look at Trump, or Boris Johnson now over here. That is the greatest lying clown I’ve ever seen in my life. It’s terrifying, and all over the world. We’re living in some extraordinary times."

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• Years and Years is unlike any science fiction, or piece of futurism, on TV: "Years and Years suggests we should expect the most extreme, and hold on for dear life," says Tim Teeman. "The genius of Davies is to imagine this macro-turmoil so believably and relatably—just as he has ambitiously realized before in shows as diverse as Queer as Folk and Dr. Who. Davies is a master of tonal whiplash: Years and Years ricochets between comedy and tragedy, wit and despair, family chit-chat and life and death decisions."
• Years and Years is meant to serve as an alarm, an alert to what’s going on in front of our eyes and where it might lead
• The scariest thing about Years and Years is how little anything changes