Channel 4 has released the official trailer for ‘It Gets Worse‘, the new comedy from comedian, writer and actor Leo Reich (Too Much), alongside confirmation that the six-part series will premiere this October. Produced by A24, the show features an impressive ensemble cast, some rather spectacular guest stars, and an award-winning novelist providing the narration. Because apparently being a twenty-something in London isn’t quite stressful enough without someone narrating your failures.
Written, created by and starring Reich, the series follows three former university friends who are discovering that the whole being-an-adult thing isn’t quite what they were promised.
Ethan (Leo Reich), Abi (Emily Fairn, House of Guinness, The Responder) and Sam (Olive Gray, Halo, Save Me) have been best friends since university. They’ve finally managed to move to London, where they’ve spent the past year accomplishing precisely nothing. Their careers are going nowhere, their love lives are a disaster, and their dreams of metropolitan success are looking increasingly optimistic.
Then their landlord announces they’re selling the property, meaning the trio are getting kicked out.
Suddenly, the three friends must navigate a housing crisis, disappointing jobs, terrible dating prospects and the possibility that their supposedly unbreakable friendship might not survive being scattered across a city that seems determined to make their lives miserable.
And, as anyone who has ever attempted to rent somewhere in London will know, that’s probably the most realistic part of the entire series.
The central question of ‘It Gets Worse’ is one that will be painfully familiar to anyone who has reached adulthood and discovered that things don’t magically fall into place. Surely life is supposed to get better eventually? Surely there’s a point when you start feeling like a functioning human being rather than three financial emergencies in a trench coat?
Well, judging by the title, we probably shouldn’t get our hopes up.
An impressive cast of familiar faces
Alongside the central trio, the series features Sean Delaney (Killing Eve), Dane Williams (What It Feels Like for a Girl), India Mullen (Normal People), and comedian John Tothill.
Also appearing are Arian Nik (Daddy Issues), Safia Oakley-Green (Out of Darkness), Nicole Sadie Sawyerr (Casualty), Phil Zimmerman (Silent Witness), Billy Rilot (The Undeclared War), Kirsty Bloom (Sex Education), Luca Kamleh-Chapman (The Gathering) and Emmeline Downie.
However, it’s the guest cast that really catches the eye.
Andrew Scott (Ripley, Fleabag) makes an appearance, alongside Lena Dunham (Girls, Too Much), Amelia Dimoldenberg (Chicken Shop Date), Blake Harrison (The Inbetweeners), Vicki Pepperdine (The Windsors) and musician and performance artist Clayton Pettet, better known as Babymorocco.
Adding another rather unexpected name to the production is acclaimed novelist Zadie Smith, who provides narration for the series. It’s certainly an interesting choice for a comedy about three people spectacularly failing to get their lives together.
From stand-up to sitcom
For Reich, ‘It Gets Worse’ marks a significant step into television comedy following the success of his acclaimed stand-up show Literally Who Cares?!, which received an HBO special produced by A24.
His particular brand of sharp, self-aware, occasionally brutal observations about modern life seems well suited to a series examining the gap between what young adults expect their lives to look like and the considerably less glamorous reality.
The six-part, half-hour comedy is produced by A24, with Sam Pinnell (Trying, Motherland, Derry Girls) serving as producer.
Mounia Akl (House of Guinness, The Responder, Boiling Point) directs the series, while Emmy-winning cinematographer Matthew Lewis (Adolescence) serves as Director of Photography. The comedy was commissioned by Charlie Perkins, Channel 4’s Head of Comedy.
Before arriving on television, ‘It Gets Worse’ will receive a premiere screening at the BFI London Film Festival in October.
For viewers across the Atlantic, Paramount+ has also acquired the US rights, with the series scheduled to launch there in early November. Canadian viewers will get the comedy through Crave.
In the UK, Channel 4 is giving viewers the option of watching it traditionally or immediately bingeing the entire thing. All six episodes will arrive on the streaming service in the early hours of its launch day, ahead of the evening television broadcast.
So, if you’ve ever stared at your bank balance, your dating history or your rental agreement and wondered when adulthood was supposed to start getting easier, this might be the comedy for you.
‘It Gets Worse‘ Season 1 premieres Thursday, 22nd October 2026 on Channel 4, airing at 10:05pm, with all six episodes available to stream from 12:01am that morning.
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