Youth review: HBOs coming-of-middle-age comedy is messy and moving, as only Sharon Horgan can

From Catastrophe to Bad Sisters , Sharon Horgan has proven herself adept at creating deeply human, deeply messy characters muddling through complicated lives.

Her latest series, Youth on HBO, continues that trend with a tale of menopausal love and sex that's equal parts hilarious and vulnerable.

SEE ALSO: 2026 fall TV preview: Every show you should know about What's Youth about? Rupert Friend and Sharon Horgan in "Youth." Credit: Colin Hutton / HBO Horgan plays Alex, a divorced literary agent dealing with the sheer onslaught of life at 50.

She's taken on the role of caretaker twice over, looking after her ailing parents as well as her angst-ridden 18-year-old son, Ruari (Aran Murphy).

As the latter heads off to university, Alex determines to put her own needs first and find the love and sex she's denied herself while he's been at home.

That quest proves difficult.

After years of marriage, Alex is daunted by the prospect of starting her love life over at square one.

As she weathers awkward courtships and gets accustomed to "new dick," she also confronts her body image issues tied to aging.

In the very first episode, she learns she's got arthritis in her jaw. (You can imagine the off-color joke her doctor makes about her oral activities.) In a solid background running gag, she constantly buys new exercise equipment.

Panic over her appearance abounds, especially when confronted with her on-again, off-again lover Patrick's (Rupert Friend) current, much younger fling, Cara (Nadia Parkes).

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18, 2026) And all that's before Ruari moves back home, mere days into his university career.

His return, coupled with Alex's romantic and professional anxieties, sparks a perfect storm of awkward situations, like an Ibiza vacation where everyone is romantically paired off except for Alex and her son.

Horgan brings every social misstep to life with deft frankness.