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Mar 30 | 3 min readMare of Easttown: How to watch Kate Winslet's dark HBO crime drama in the UK
Mare of Easttown is a mysterious seven-part drama starring Kate Winslet as small-town detective Mare Sheehan, whose live begins to unravel as she investigates a murder.
Kate Winslet’s new HBO crime drama Mare of Easttown is coming to the UK from Monday, April 19, and we think you’re going to fall in love with this dark, suspense-filled series.
Airing weekly on Sky Atlantic with NOW, Mare of Easttown is the story of troubled detective Mare Sheehan (Winslet) as she investigates a murder in small-town Pennsylvania.
Written by Brad Ingelsby (The Way Back) and directed by Craig Zobel (The Leftovers), the show brilliantly captures a small-town community and elevates the series beyond the busy field of TV crime dramas into something dark, authentic and enticing.
Mare of Easttown - What you need to know
Watch on: Mondays, 9pm from April 19 on Sky Atlantic with NOW.
Rotten Tomatoes rating: 92%
Cast: Kate Winslet, Jean Smart, Julianne Nicholson, Angourie Rice, Evan Peter, Guy Pearce
The critics said: "The big draw of Mare of Easttown is watching Kate Winslet in her first major TV role, and she doesn’t disappoint" (Empire).
Kate Winslet: why I returned to TV drama
Winslet guarantees something special whenever her name is attached to a project. Mare of Easttown is her first TV series since HBO’s Mildred Pierce adaptation in 2011, and she explained why this crime drama had drawn her back to the small screen.
"I just had never done anything like this, I was excited to read something that just gripped me right away," she said.
"I really felt the sense of not just who Mare was, but the world that she lives in, where she comes from, that sense of community, being so entrenched in a society that you sort of forget who you are from time to time, and the sense of responsibility/burdens that Mare carries - for lots of reasons to do with her backstory - really, really intrigued me.
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"But the story has such a heart to it and it’s rooted in so much truth, and it just really resonated with me. I was excited to work with HBO again, having done Mildred Pierce. And I wanted to be part of an ensemble.
"There's nothing more luxurious for an actor to spend time in the company of other wonderful actors. So I was very excited by all of it. It sort of came at the perfect time in many ways for me where I was looking for something that was going to consume me as much as this would and it certainly did. So yeah, I feel very lucky that it came along.”
Who are the Mare of Easttown cast?
Although Winslet’s performance has captured the attention of critics, Easttown is a small-town drama that hooks you in from the first episode because of the richness of the cast and characters.
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Jean Smart (Watchmen) plays Mare’s mum, Julianne Nicholson (The Outsider) plays Mare’s childhood friend Lori and Angourie Rice (Black Mirror) is Mare’s daughter Siobhan.
Evan Peter (American Horror Story) plays Detective Colin Zabel and Guy Pearce (Mildred Pierce), above, plays writer Richard Ryan.
The stellar cast also includes Cailee Spaeny (Devs), David Denman (The Office), Sosie Bacon (13 Reasons Why), Phyllis Somerville (The Big C) and Justin Hurtt-Dunkley (High Flying Bird).
Mare of Easttown – First reviews
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The crime drama has been getting impressive reviews in the US and UK, and critics have praised Kate Winslet for her stunning performance as Mare.
Talking about Winslet, the Radio Times said: “It’s a role which suits her amazing ability to simultaneously dominate the screen with a character, but also generously make space for the surrounding cast to shine and take centre stage at the right time.
“A great supporting cast includes the likes of Guy Pearce as an enigmatic writer, the Aussie actor returning to Winslet’s TV side after they’d worked together in Mildred Pierce all those years ago.”
Empire was similarly enthusiastic about the British actress, writing: The big draw of Mare of Easttown is watching Kate Winslet in her first major TV role (playing Suzanne in Casualty in 1993 doesn’t count) and she doesn’t disappoint.
"Brad Ingelsby’s drama spins many plates - it’s a murder mystery, a family drama, a small-town ensemble piece - but, thanks to Winslet’s skill and commitment, it works best as a character study of a woman whose traumatic past is permeating her present at the worst possible moment.”
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Variety wrote: “At its best the series gives Winslet space to deliver a performance that resists fireworks in favour of flickering doubts, insecurities and concerns. Winslet’s accent gets your attention first, but soon, you’ll be most closely watching her when she’s doing a million things silently.”
The BBC Culture website said that Mare continued “an amazing run” of performances from Winslet, while the Evening Standard suggested the actress may pick up another Emmy for the series to add to the one she won for Mildred Pierce.
Meanwhile, US website Vulture said: “Anything that can trigger a sense of shock, transport you to another town, and make you cackle (again: Jean Smart for president) is the kind of television that’s worth your time.”
How to watch Mare of Easttown
Mare of Easttown has 7 episodes which will air weekly on Sky Atlantic from Monday April 19 (#MareMondays).
Watch Sky Atlantic with NOW Entertainment Membership.
