Add the 'Lessons In Chemistry' TV adaptation starring Brie Larson to your must-watch list
This feature contains some spoilers.
You’ll most likely already have heard of Lessons In Chemistry, the hit novel by Bonnie Garmus, which was at the top of everyone’s reading list last year. For the unfamiliar, the book was a Sunday Times bestseller and was also nominated for Waterstones’s debut fiction prize.
Fans will be delighted to hear, therefore, that an adaptation has just dropped on Apple TV+ , starring Brie Larson – who has also executive produced the series. Here’s everything you need to know about the show, including the plot, the cast and how to watch it.
What is Lessons In Chemistry about?
Based on the bestselling novel of the same name, Lessons In Chemistry is set in early 1950s America and follows the life of Elizabeth Zott (played by Larson), whose dream of being a scientist is obstructed by the patriarchal society in which she lives. When Elizabeth finds herself pregnant, alone and fired from her lab, she accepts a job as a host on a TV cooking show – all the while craving to return to her true love: science.
The first two episodes explore Elizabeth’s past in the 1950s, when she worked as a lab technician while dreaming of completing her PhD to pursue a career as a chemist. She faces sexism within her industry on a daily basis – at work, male colleagues tell her "a smile once in a while wouldn’t kill you" and "some sex appeal wouldn’t hurt" – but meeting Dr Calvin Evans, played by Lewis Pullman, changes everything.
When Calvin dies in a tragic accident, Elizabeth goes on to present the cooking show Supper At Six, taking the same logical, rational approach to cooking as she does to science – but must learn that not every variable in life can be controlled.
Who is starring in Lessons In Chemistry?
Academy Award-winner and Room star Larson takes on the role of the story’s protagonist, Elizabeth Zott, and has also executive produced the series. She stars opposite Top Gun: Maverick’s Lewis Pullman and Aja Naomi King, who you’ll know from How To Get Away With Murder. Other notable faces – including Stephanie Koenig, Kevin Sussman, Patrick Walker and Thomas Mann – also make up the cast.
The behind-the-scenes team is just as impressive: the showrunner is Lee Eisenberg, the co-creator of WeWork drama WeCrashed, and Ozark’s Jason Bateman and Susannah Grant join Larson as executive producers.
How can I watch Lessons In Chemistry?
The first two episodes of the series landed on Apple TV+ on 13 October, and an episode will debut every Friday until 24 November – making this the perfect autumn feel-good drama.
If you're looking for more must-watch TV to add to your streaming queue, consider the latest upcoming season of The Crown (which will dramatise the break-up of Charles and Diana's marriage), of catch-up on The Woman In The Wall – a tense series, starring Ruth Wilson, which documents the terrors of the Magdalene Laundries.
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