Common Sense Media Review
By Joyce Slaton
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Drinking, smoking, a baby in peril in underdone UK drama.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 14+?
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Where to Watch
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Little Disasters
Parent and Kid Reviews
What's the Story?
LITTLE DISASTERS begins with a sick baby, as Ed (JJ Feild) worriedly asks his wife Jess (Diane Kruger) to take their baby Betsy to the hospital. It's just a cold, the parents think, but there's bad news at the hospital, where the doctor on call, Liz (Jo Joyner), discovers to her horror that Betsy has a skull fracture. The two have known each other for over a decade, having met in a prenatal class when pregnant with their first children and grown close with each other as well as the two other couples in class, Mel (Emily Taaffe) and Rob (Stephen Campbell Moore) and Charlotte (Shelley Conn) and Andrew (Patrick Baladi). But tensions have arisen over ten years of vacations and soccer league practices, and Liz and Jess are no longer close. It's still hard for Liz to call social services to ask for an investigation into Betsy's injury, and the fallout that comes from that decision is something no one expected.
Is It Any Good?
This complicated, slow-burning drama reaches for the addictively soapy heights of shows like Big Little Lies or Sharp Objects, but lacks the narrative meat needed to get there. Little Disasters has a time-honored premise: a group of friends who all have secrets. It worked for The White Lotus, right? But there's just no there here. The kinds of secrets this crowd has are small potatoes: This one resents that one's judgment, this one looks down on that one's choices. It's real-life stuff, which is only mesmerizing when it concerns you.
Still, Little Disasters looks good and glossy, and the two lead actors, Diane Kruger and Jo Joyner, are terrific. The show's at its best when it concentrates on the tension between these two women, or when following either of them. Kruger's Jess is particularly effective as a dedicated mom whose fears about medical care and her own perfect image combine to create a perfect storm with her third child. We see in flashbacks a mom who was effective and calm, and then one disordered by the hormone storm of a pregnancy, beset with visions of bringing harm to her kids. Did that mean she actually hurt one of them? We won't spoil that here, but Little Disasters reveals its secrets one drop at a time, so that viewers' loyalty will keep shifting. If only the payoff felt more worth it.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about Little Disaster's premise, with a medical professional who calls social services when she's concerned that an old friend may have abused her child. Did Liz make the right call when she involved social services? Does she owe more loyalty to her friendship or to her avocation as a doctor?
Little Disasters was adapted from a book. Did you read it? Is it necessary to read the source material to enjoy an adapted version?
Financial issues play a part in this narrative. How does Little Disasters show us who has money in this story and who doesn't? Consider setting, costumes, and dialogue.
TV Details
- Premiere date : December 11, 2025
- Cast : Diane Kruger , Jo Joyner , Stephen Campbell Moore
- Network : Ruth Fowler
- Genre : Drama
- Topics : Family Stories
- TV rating :
- Last updated : December 15, 2025
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