Trying (Seasons 1–5)

Trying (2020) is a British Apple TV+ comedy series you can watch online on iFILM. Nikki and Jason desperately want a child — the one thing their bodies won't give them. So they turn to adoption, even though their own lives look less like a model household and more like cheerful disarray.

Now they have to convince an adoption panel that they're ready to be parents. That's the catch: their friends come with baggage, their families can derail any interview, and nothing at home ever quite goes to plan. Esther Smith and Rafe Spall play the couple, and the show lives on their chemistry — the awkward pauses, the bickering, the tenderness that surfaces at exactly the wrong moment. The tagline "older not wiser" sums the two of them up perfectly.

This was Apple TV+'s first original British comedy, and its tone is soft and warm rather than mean — the laughs come from recognition, not cruelty. Episodes were handled by Jim O'Hanlon, Ellie Heydon and Elliot Hegarty. It's for anyone worn out by cynical sitcoms who'd rather follow ordinary people who try hard and get it wrong anyway. Stream every season of Trying (2020) online on iFILM.