Sat, September 26, 2026 at 2:21 PM UTC
Phoebe Waller-Bridge developed one of the ‘greatest’ TV series of all time based on a one-woman stage show that earned multiple awards.
Phoebe Waller-Bridge proved that 30-minute TV episodes were more than enough to create a hit series, and it was not only tagged as one of the greatest TV series of all time, but one of the best of the 21st century.
The New York Times posted its list of the top 100 TV series of the 21st century, with Fleabag taking the No.5 spot on the list. While hits like Breaking Bad, Mad Men, andThe Wireranked in the top three, Fleabag is the only series in the Top 10 with a perfect 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes.
“As both the creator and star of this two-season wonder, Phoebe Waller-Bridge helped push forward the idea of what a half-hour TV format could do, adapting her one-woman stage show into a brilliantly layered evocation of grief, romance (all hail Hot Priest!) and 30-something coming-of-age, all in less than six hours of screen time,” reported the New York Tiimes.
Fleabag was released in 2016 as a British comedy-drama on BBC Three that ran for two seasons until 2019. The series follows an unnamed woman, known as Fleabag, played by Waller-Bridge. Her character is a free-spirited but angry young woman living in London, dealing with themes of grief, guilt, sex, relationships, and complicated family dynamics.
In a total of only 12 episodes, Fleabag captured fans’ interest with its constant fourth-wall breaks and its use of very dark subject matter with crude humor, sexual comedy, and moments of genuine vulnerability.
Waller-Bridge originally developed the series as a one-woman stage show for the 2013 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Her friend challenged her to create a 10-minute piece for a storytelling night, and it later became a full-fledged show and adapted for TV.
“I think it was really inspired by the cynicism I was feeling in my twenties, and then also wanting to play a character I can really relate to, and also a touch of female rage,” she told Vogue.
Fleabag became Waller-Bridge’s breakout role, co-starring alongside Sian Clifford,Andrew Scott, and actors like Ben Aldridge, Hugh Skinner, Hugh Dennis, Bill Paterson, Oli
The success of both seasons led her to win the British Academy Television Award for Best Female Comedy Performance for the first installment, and the second installment earned her Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Comedy Series, Outstanding Lead Actress, and Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series.
This story was originally published byParadeon Sep 26, 2026, where it first appeared in theTVsection. Add Parade as aPreferred
