Just when you think there’s a TV format that won’t surprise you, the BBC strikes again in the best possible way.

As well as treating us to true crimes, some scandalous dramas and insightful documentaries, the BBC has snapped up Showtime’s Couples Therapy and we have to say, when Mondays are a tad taxing on the brain and you just want to mindlessly escape into something – this is the ideal pick for you.

The BBC Two programme lifts the lid on what actually goes on in the four walls of a couples therapy room. We know, televising your therapy sessions may seem like the oddest thing ever but the series has been described as “fascinating and addictive to watch” and we’re definitely inclined to agree. 

The US series sees Dr Orna Guralnik guide couples through their problems, confrontations and revelations and we follow the same couples over the course of an eight-month period.

“I want to be pregnant yesterday,” one of the women states in the first episode and goes on to say she blames her husband of 11 years for “not delivering the life that [she] wants”.

While the production looks glossy and staged, the fraught dynamics are anything but. Before you know it, you’re watching these relationship problems unfold before your eyes (and become kind of caught up in the madness, we have to admit) but can’t look away because of the way that Dr Guralnik gets them to confront everything.

Even the trailer for season two – which is currently being aired on BBC Two after originally premiering on Showtime in the US – is enough to leave you wanting more, trust us. Watch it here: 

“Can you let me do some of the work?” she says soothingly. She guides couples and digs deep into individual feelings, as well as how certain scenarios make both partners feel as a unit also.

As the episodes go on, you start to get a sense of the couples – what makes them angry, what they’re contributing to the dynamic, are they the “bad guy” as some of the sessions hint to. But actually, you realise when watching Couples Therapy that the answer is never quite as clear-cut as you want – especially in the realm of romantic relationships.

Just when you think the arguments are so toxic and the comments so lethal, you do realise one thing about the series: it gets us to really think about what we can take from every situation – no matter how hard and embarrassing to share – whether it’s a lesson or surprising personal reflection.

“People come in convinced that the problem lives in their partner and what they’re going to ask me to do is help them change their partner so that life gets better – but that’s not the work of couples therapy,” Dr Guralnik states.

We say, if you’re a fan of all things Esther Perel, relationships and psychoanalysis – you need to indulge in a binge-watch of Couples Therapy now.

Couples Therapy airs on BBC Two tonight at 10pm with episodes available to watch on BBC iPlayer now. 

Images: BBC/Showtime