Alice & Jack is a romantic drama with Andrea Riseborough and Domhnall Gleeson as the lead characters who are soulmates and whose love for one another shapes their lives. When career-minded Alice and scientist Jack first meet they experience a connection so powerful it seems unbreakable, but can their relationship really survive the complexities of life?
Andrea Riseborough, who plays Alice, says: “We unite in yearning to see evidence of real love, and, too, are soothed to share with one another the ache of its inevitable imperfection. This story is for anyone who could or couldn’t make the sacrifice that love demanded, for anyone who battles and accepts the one who makes their soul soar, for anyone who longs to feel, who has felt, and who feels the tingling anticipation of love’s joy”.
Domhnall Gleeson, who plays Jack, adds: “The only work I’ve wanted to watch and do since the pandemic is work about connection and love, and work with a sense of humour. Alice and Jack keep coming back to each other because they can’t help themselves - they find in each other something that they don’t have on their own. I think they're soulmates, I think it's bigger than just the two of them. Their story centres on connection and love in the most beautiful way and reminds us that we are always allowed to smile - even if it’s through the tears”.
Here’s everything you need to know about the six-part Channel 4 drama Alice & Jack…
Alice & Jack release date
Alice & Jack is a six-part drama that started on Channel 4 on Wednesday, February 14 2024 at 9pm, with the second episode airing on Thursday, 15 February at the same time.
All six episodes are now available as a box set on Channel 4 On Demand.
In the US this drama will be shown on PBS Masterpiece. There's no official release date for the US just yet but we'll add here when we find out.
Is there a trailer for Alice & Jack?
You can enjoy the official trailer of Alice & Jack, which shows the couple in the early stages of their relationship. Take a look below...
Alice & Jack plot
Alice & Jack will show love in ‘all its unexpected, technicolour, kaleidoscopic beauty’ as it follows Alice and Jack, two very different young people who fall hopelessly in love with one another. Alice is a career-driven woman grappling with childhood trauma who meets the lonely but charming scientist Jack in a bar. They have an undeniable connection, but their relationship faces immeasurable challenges, and it seems their love might not be as unbreakable as they would both hope. The six-part series follows their relationship over 15 years and details its numerous highs and lows.
Alice & Jack cast — Andrea Riseborough on playing Alice
Andrea Riseborough, who plays ambitious Alice, says: "Alice and Jack interact with the world completely differently. She’s coming from a childhood of really having lost everything. When you come from a place like that you can take risks in all sorts of areas in life, like finance, and make huge amounts of money. We’ve seen each other grow up, this is the third time that we’ve worked together. Even though we have a long working relationship, to have that experience with somebody that I trust and have known for such a long time like Domhnall is really wonderful.
"I think Alice and Jack each answer a call in each other. Alice’s significant journey is letting love in. She can love very deeply but is unable to be loved. By the time we get to the end of our time with Alice we feel like she might feel deserving of love. Love keeps drawing Alice and Jack back together. It’s just an insatiable, undeniable everlasting kind of eternal bond. They’re like yin and yang."
Alice & Jack star Andrea Riseborough: ‘It accurately reflects love’
* Andrea Riseborough previously played former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the 2008 film Margaret Thatcher: The Long Walk to Finchley and Wallis Simpson in the 2011 movie W.E. She’s also starred in Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical, To Leslie, Amsterdam, To Leslie, ZeroZeroZero and Oblivion.
Domnhall Gleeson on playing Jack
Domnhall Gleeson, who plays scientist Jack,, says: "Jack is like me, in a lot of ways. He's an Irish fella, that's where the similarities end actually. He is reasonably open when we meet him. He is open to the world, he is pretty optimistic and generally he's had a happy upbringing even though he has lost his parents. He meets somebody, and his life changes.
"We meet Jack and Alice about 15 years ago, from where we are now. So dating apps and things like that had just begun. They hadn't been around for long. Some people were reasonably judgmental about them or were worried about them or thought they might be strange ways to meet people. Jack has just started using the dating app, and the first person he matches with is this person Alice. He goes to meet her, he doesn't know what to expect, he doesn't know how it's going to go, and she is very different to what he thought or imagined, but even better than he could have dreamed.
"They are an unusual combination of people. They keep coming back to each other because they can't help themselves. They find in each other something that they don't have on their own. They have lots of edges to them, which end up driving them apart. But there's something inside them which is linked. I think Victor believes in the notion of soulmates; somebody who, above all others, can make your life better and who can perhaps make their life better in return. I think that's it, they're soulmates. It's bigger than just the two of them.
"Jack probably has more traditional or usual concepts of how a relationship best works. Alice is probably anti-relationship at the start of their meeting. There are huge tracks of time where they're not together and then very short periods of times where they are. But it's the times they're together that matter. Jack does not want to spend any of that time apart. He would rather be with her all the time, and he thinks that's the way for him to be happy. She feels otherwise. They get to know themselves more in the time that they're apart and that's important to the show. Also a lot of things happen in the meantime; children are had and people get sick. Life passing through them is also part of the theme of the show.
"It's been great working with Andrea. She's a super actress, she's got a gift and she uses it very well. It's been funny at times, it's been hard at times. It's been all that sort of stuff, because that's the relationship, that's how it is. They drive each other away and they bring each other back. Finding that has been difficult, because you just want to be in the good place all the time. The directors and the scripts have led us on that journey and she's been great."
* Domnhall Gleeson previously played Bill Weasley in the Harry Potter films and General Hux in the Star Wars franchise. He starred in the 2023 series White House Plumbers and has also been in The Patient, Frank of Ireland, Peter Rabbit 2, Anna Karenina, About Time and The Revenant.
Who else is starring in Alice & Jack?
Also starring in Alice & Jack are Sex Education star Aimee Lou Wood as Maya, Aisling Bea (This Way Up) as Lynn, Stath Les Flats star Sunil Patel as Paul. Call The Midwife season 12 star Ella Bruccoleri also stars.
Alice & Jack episode guide
Here's our brief guide to each of the six episodes in Alice & Jack which we'll be updating as the series runs...
Episode 1
When Alice and Jack meet, they are bound by a powerful connection that seems like nothing can break. But a deep and powerful trauma from Alice’s past causes her to reject Jack, who finds solace in other, less profound relationships.
Episode 2
Jack is now happily married to Lynn with a baby when an unexpected call from Alice turns his life upside down. Torn by his feelings for Alice, Jack decides to see her in secret with devastating consequences.
Episode 3
Years after their last encounter, Jack receives a surprise invitation from Alice. Their feelings for each other soon surface, raising doubts about whether Alice is ready to be in a relationship with anyone right now.
Episode 4
Alice disappears from Jack’s life until years later Celia seeks her out to get some answers about Jack. Their relationship inspires Alice to think about her future.
Episodes 3 to 6
We'll update before these episodes are shown so do check back.
Behind the scenes and more on Alice & Jack
Alice & Jack is an original drama series from award-winning writer and film director Victor Levin (Mad Men, Mad About You). Finnish film director and screenwriter Juho Kuosmanen, who co-wrote and directed 2021 Cannes Grand Prix co-winner Compartment 6, is the lead director and Hong Khaou (Lilting) directs the second block of the series.
Alice & Jack is a Fremantle production in partnership with BAFTA and Emmy award-winning Me + You Productions (I Am Ruth, Close to You), Academy award-nominated Groundswell Productions (The Visitor) and De Maio Entertainment. Fremantle handles global sales.
