Sex and dating for the sandwich generation - Sharon Horgan on her latest comedy Youth

Sharon Horgan’s latest HBO Max comedy Youth places a 50‑something woman at the centre of a story about career pressures, parenting a teenager, caring for ageing parents and re‑entering the dating scene after divorce. The series follows Horgan’s character Alex as she attempts to juggle a stressful publishing vocation while looking after a teenage lad and elderly parents, situating her within the so‑called sandwich generation—those in midlife who must balance caring responsibilities for both older and younger family members while often working. Alex is also back in the dating game following a divorce. Horgan, who is divorced and has two daughters, discussed how much of Youth draws from her own life. She said, "We've each got kids who are benignant of adults present and parents who are getting older and ailing successful immoderate cases. There is simply a chunk of my beingness successful there, an… autobiographical constituent for sure. But the bully happening astur penning autofiction is that nary 1 truly knows which bits are existent and which bits aren't, I guess, but the radical [in it]!" The writer, producer and actor had been mulling the idea for Youth before moving on to create Apple TV