Babies is a British television drama series created by Stefan Golaszewski for BBC One. The six-part series stars Paapa Essiedu, Siobhán Cullen, Charlotte Riley, and Jack Bannon and revolves around a young couple suffering pregnancy loss.
Contents
Cast and characters
Paapa Essiedu as Stephen
Siobhán Cullen as Lisa
Charlotte Riley as Amanda
Jack Bannon as Dave
Gary Beadle as Kevin
Nadine Marshall as Patty
Production
Development
The six-part series, written and directed by Stefan Golaszewski, was commissioned by the BBC in November 2024. with Paapa Essiedu, Siobhán Cullen, Charlotte Riley, and Jack Bannon joining the main cast. It is produced by Snowed-In Productions and The Money Men Studios, while executive producers include Golaszewski, Ruth Kenley-Letts for Snowed-In Productions, Neil Blair and Richard Laxton, and Danielle Scott-Haughton for the BBC. Producers include Lyndsay Robinson and Kelly Duffell.
Filming took place in Abbots Langley in Hertfordshire, as well as Watford, in February 2025.
Broadcast
The series premiered on 30 March 2026 on BBC One, with all episodes made available to stream on BBC iPlayer.
Reception
Reviewing the show for The Guardian, Sarah Dempster gave Babies five stars out of five and described it as "an unsettling, funny, moving and emotionally devastating TV triumph." The same newspaper's Rachel Aroesti called the show "beautiful", and gave particular acclaim to its theme song, "Volcano", calling it "a sweet, disenchantment-steeped Billy Bragg-meets-Kate Nash indie ballad performed by the writer-director himself."
Barbara Ellen of The Observer and James Hibbs of the Radio Times were more measured: Ellen described the programme as "far too long and intense", but also called it "powerful" and "beautifully acted", in particular Siobhán Cullen's performance "as a woman atomising before our very eyes." Hibbs awarded it four stars out of five, and praised the relatibility of the writing and the central performances, but observed that Babies "starts to fall apart somewhat in its final two instalments."