Sharon Horgan has created a new HBO comedy series, Youth, which follows Alex, a divorced woman in her 50s navigating the "sandwich generation" experience of caring for a teenage son and ageing parents while re-entering the dating world. The show, pitched and greenlit within a week, draws heavily on Horgan's own post-divorce experiences and those of her friends, offering an unusually honest and comedic portrait of midlife upheaval, ageing and single life rarely depicted so candidly on screen.

Co-starring Rupert Friend as a potential love interest and Aran Murphy (son of actor Cillian Murphy) as her son, the series blends sharp comedy with genuine emotional weight, reflecting Horgan's stated aversion to sentimentality in favour of authentic feeling. Horgan, who has two daughters aged 22 and 18, also uses the show to explore the pressures facing Gen Z, describing them as a generation burdened by fears over AI and economic uncertainty. The article, based on set visits and interviews, highlights praise from co-stars for Horgan's writing and on-screen chemistry.