‘It could happen…'

Star Adam Scott and director Ben Stiller on their new thriller exploring how to achieve a work-life balance

- CAREN CLARK

SEVERANCE

Available: Friday 18 February Season: 1 Episodes: 9 (first two episodes from Fri 18 Feb, then weekly) Run time: 50 minutes (approx) NEW DRAMA

How far would you go to ensure there is a clear distinction between your work and home lives?

This is the intriguing premise of Severance, a darkly comic dystopian thriller directed by Hollywood leading man Ben Stiller (Zoolander, Meet the Parents) that launches on Apple TV+ this Friday.

The nine-part series, which has Oscar-winners Christopher Walken and Patricia Arquette on the cast list, centres on Mark Scout (Parks and Recreation’s Adam Scott), a worker at Lumon Industries.

The strangely retro but futuristic tech company has a contentious policy by which employees can undergo a surgical procedure that severs their work memories from their personal ones so that they never impinge on each other.

But the disappearance of one co-worker and the arrival of a rebellious new colleague, Helly (Man Seeking Woman star Britt Lower), along with a troubling encounter while he is dealing with grief away from work, leaves both sides of Mark keen to learn more about the potentially sinister goings-on at Lumon.

TV Times joined Adam, 48, and Ben, 56, for a chat to find out more…