#Tom Hollander Says Masterpiece’s ‘Us’ Is ‘Supposed to Be a Story of Hope’

“It’s undignified to hold on to the sleeve of someone who wants to leave,” observes one character in this four-part Masterpiece, nimbly adapted by David Nicholls from his novel.

Nonetheless, Douglas Petersen (The Night Manager‘sTom Hollander) latches on with both hands when his wife, Connie (Saskia Reeves), decides their opposites-attract relationship has run its course.

“He’s a fussy, funny nerd,” Hollander says, “at turns quite sweet and quite irritating.” Which makes it all the more entertaining when he tries to change Connie’s mind as they and distant teen son Albie (Tom Taylor) set off on a “grand tour” of Paris, Amsterdam, Venice and Barcelona. (A stunning, art-filled pre-COVID travelogue, Us “offers a glimpse of something we all took for granted until very recently,” Hollander notes.)

The couple’s eventual split may seem inevitable, but, he adds, Us is “supposed to be a story of hope.”

Us, Summer, PBS