Based on the bestselling Edward St. Aubyn semi-autobiographical novels, five-part limited series "Patrick Melrose" skewers the upper class as it tracks the protagonist's harrowing odyssey from a deeply traumatic childhood through adult substance abuse and, ultimately, toward recovery. Patrick Melrose (Benedict Cumberbatch) is an aristocratic and outrageously funny playboy who struggles to overcome the damage inflicted by a horribly abusive father (Hugo Weaving) and the mother (Jennifer Jason Leigh) who tacitly condoned the behavior.

Each episode will follow one of the five novels, and take place over the course of a few intense days in the life of the protagonist. The settings range from the South of France in the 1960s to New York in the 1980s and Britain in the early 2000.