General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20265 min read

Still Up

Still Up is a British television romantic comedy that premiered on Apple TV+ on 22 September 2023. It stars Antonia Thomas and Craig Roberts as Lisa and Danny, two London insomniacs who are best friends and stay connected through the night by phone and video call while the rest of the city sleeps, and it ran for a single eight-episode season before Apple TV+ declined to renew it.¹^•²^•³

Key fact	Detail
Premiere	22 September 2023, Apple TV+; first three episodes released that day¹^•²
Format	Eight episodes of about 30 minutes each; comedy, rated TV-14²^•⁴
Premise	Insomniac best friends Lisa and Danny talk through their sleepless nights by phone as their relationship deepens¹
Leads	Antonia Thomas as Lisa, an illustrator; Craig Roberts as Danny, an agoraphobic journalist¹^•⁵
Creators	Written by Steve Burge, Natalie Walter, and Bryce Hart; directed by John Addis; executive producers Phil Clarke and Paul Schlesinger¹^•⁴
Reception	Metascore 61 (generally favorable); 75% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer from 20 reviews⁶^•⁴
Fate	Cancelled after one season, reported 24 May 2024³^•⁷

Spoilers

Premise and characters

The series follows two people who cannot sleep and keep each other company through the small hours. Danny (Craig Roberts) is agoraphobic, socially anxious, and nominally a journalist, a music writer by preference who is stuck producing listicles such as "12 Ways to Know Your Dog's Depressed"; he rarely leaves his flat. Lisa (Antonia Thomas) is an illustrator with fears and indecision of her own, often out and about at night, in a late-open pharmacy, on a night bus, or lost after a bachelorette party. Their constant calls and messages link their separate storylines into what the Los Angeles Times critic Robert Lloyd called the actual spine of the series.⁵

The romantic tension comes from the people around them. Lisa lives with Veggie (Blake Harrison), a kind, sincere insurance worker who considers himself a stepfather to her daughter Poppy, and Danny's first date in three years, the personal trainer Amy (Lois Chimimba), appears as a potential love interest. Early in the season a dating app matches Lisa with Danny at 91% compatibility, and the two spend much of the season wondering whether they are really just friends.⁵^•⁸ Supporting characters include Danny's helpful neighbor Adam (Luke Fetherston), the party-throwing Cat Man (Rich Fulcher), and Veggie's mother (Samantha Spiro).²^•⁵

Episodes

The eight episodes, each about 30 minutes, aired weekly after a three-episode premiere.²

"The Pharmacy" (22 September 2023)
"The Dress" (22 September 2023)
"The Date" (22 September 2023)
"The Sleep Clinic" (29 September 2023)
"Veggie Veggie Bing Bong" (6 October 2023)
"The Road Trip" (13 October 2023)
"The Horse" (20 October 2023)
"The Wedding" (27 October 2023)

In the finale, as Lisa and Danny reminisce about the night they met, a candid revelation shakes everything up.¹

Production

Still Up was created and written by Steve Burge and Natalie Walter, with Bryce Hart also writing and John Addis directing; Phil Clarke and Paul Schlesinger served as executive producers.¹^•⁴ The show takes place almost entirely at night, in dark streets and lighted windows, and its dialogue-driven scenes are conducted largely through phone screens. Reviewers noted that Thomas and Roberts were best known to American audiences for roles in which they speak with American accents, Thomas as Dr. Claire Browne on ABC's The Good Doctor and Roberts in Amazon Prime's Red Oaks.⁵

Reception

Critical response was mixed to favorable. The season scored 61 on Metacritic, based on eight reviews classified as three positive, four mixed, and one negative.⁶ On Rotten Tomatoes it holds 75% on the Tomatometer from 20 reviews and 77% from audiences, with the critics consensus calling it "gently amusing if lacking a genuine romantic spark" and crediting it with mining "a surprising amount of heart from modern alienation."⁴

Praise centered on the leads. The Guardian's Lucy Mangan wrote that the charisma of Roberts and Thomas would pull viewers through to the final episodes, where things get "really meaty," though she found the first half of the series thin and underdeveloped.⁸ Robert Lloyd of the Los Angeles Times called the series fresh and authentic and "sweet without being sentimental, sharp but never nasty," and the paper later listed it among the best shows of 2023.⁵^•⁹ The Radio Times advised uncertain viewers to keep going past the first episodes, saying the series only gets stronger.⁶

Critics flagged pacing and structure. The Hollywood Reporter's Angie Han argued that eight half-hours were too long for the premise and that the story might have worked better as a 100-minute film.⁶ A review for the site A Hot Set made a similar case, arguing that the will-they-won't-they dynamic could not drive a series without more subplots and developed supporting characters.¹⁰ The Daily Beast found the format unsustainable, "like a scrapped pitch for a Quibi show, stretched into half-hour doses."⁶ Clarisse Loughrey, chief film critic of The Independent, took a different view, reading the show as an incidental portrait of post-lockdown life: to Danny and Lisa the outside world is illegible while their digital friendship feels more real than the material one.¹¹

Cancellation

Apple TV+ did not renew the series. British Comedy Guide reported on 24 May 2024 that the streamer had opted not to order a second season, and TVLine noted it as Apple's second cancellation that month.³^•⁷ Episode guides list the show's status as canceled/ended, with the season running from September to October 2023.²

References

Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › Scripted television and comedy series › Sitcom and comedy series › British sitcoms and comedy series › British sitcoms (2010s–present)

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026

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