Matt Smith’s disgusting drama is the new Adolescence – it brought me to tears

I have no doubt that Matt Smith’s The Death of Bunny Munro – a twisted tale of toxic masculinity – will be the sleeper hit of the year.

Based on the 2009 Nick Cave novel of the same name (the music artist serves as an executive producer), the story follows the eponymous Bunny Munro, who is following in the footsteps of his own father, Bunny Sr (David Threlfall), as a sex-addicted travelling salesman.

When his wife, Libby (Sarah Greene), takes her own life, he is saddled with his young son, Bunny Jr (Rafael Mathé), whom he takes with him from house to house – reckoning with his traumatic past, troubled present, and terrifying future along the way.

The most striking aspect of this show is that it doesn’t shy away from Bunny’s sleazy, disgusting behaviour.

In a way that TV seldom does these days, your skin will crawl and your mouth will hang open in horror. Seriously, get ready to see every bodily fluid around before the six-part drama is up. 

Far from glamourising ‘bad boy’ behaviour, the show instead offers a nuanced portrayal of the banality of evil and invokes pity for all the powerless men trying to exercise control through pathetic and grim-faced methods. 

Bunny’s cockiness is cringe-inducing as he navigates the world stuck in the mindset of a scammy businessman from the 80s who smells of cigars and two-day-old sex, and who definitely hasn’t seen a shower in at least a week.

As we watch him destroy his own life, any hope of a healthy relationship with women, and a meaningful connection with his son, there’s a stark commentary on the awful consequences of generational trauma and how society fails lost men, which also causes women to suffer at their hands as a result.

In this show, sex is not intimate and meaningful; it is a callous transaction. Compliments are paid as a means to an end, and Bunny Munro is not interested in living; simply surviving.

The Doctor Who star, as he’s more than proven in past roles, effortlessly slips into Bunny’s skin – fully committing to the show’s most disturbing scenes in what must be his most alarming character yet. 

No mean feat, considering his incestuous House of the Dragon character, Daemon Targaryen, has even fantasised about having sex with his own mum.

However, what Matt does best (somehow, despite all the rottenness at the core of his character) is find his humanity. Where the series truly shines is in the delicate relationship between our two Bunnys as they embark on a transformative road trip. 

We see this alternate Bunny Munro desperately trying to claw through and be the man his son deserves, and, against all the odds, you find yourself rooting for this buried alter-ego to win. 

Matt and Rafael’s broken father-son dynamic is rich and chequered, with Bunny Jr evoking such a fierce feeling of protectiveness you almost want to reach through the screen and swaddle him in bubble wrap. 

There are a few scenes between the pair towards the end of the show that brought me to tears over the tenderness with which they’re both trying to mend this fragile relationship, and all the ways it’s doomed to fail.

Through Bunny Jr’s eyes, we see another way for boys to grow into men and all the pitfalls they must avoid as they grow up in modern-day England. 

Bunny Jr’s gentle soul, so bright in contrast with Bunny Munro’s cantankerous nature, offers a much-needed breath of fresh air in an otherwise heavy show.

For those who enjoyed Netflix’s Adolescence for its portrayal of 21st-century boyhood, this new series continues a vital conversation around breaking free from toxic masculinity with an equally endearing child actor at the helm.

There’s enough crazy, bonkers happenings, interspersed with scenes of real emotional depth, to keep you hooked from start to finish.

In the final two episodes, the series seems to steer in a more self-indulgent, abstract direction, which risks losing audiences and completely kills the otherwise solid pacing.

However, if you’re able to power through, it pulls itself back from the brink with an ending that might just take your breath away and wraps the show up in a satisfying way.

The Death of Bunny Munro premieres on Sky on November 20 and will be available to stream on NOW.

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