Amandaland will make you howl with laughter â Lucy Punch has never been better
â??Motherlandâ?? spin-off, following Punchâ??s posh alpha mum, is clever, jolly and hard to resist
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This Motherland spin-off shouldnât work. As fans of Sharon Horganâs Bafta-winning comedy will know, Amanda, the posh alpha mum played by Lucy Punch, was a side event. All phoney smile and blonde ambition, the character thought she was the centre of the universe, yet could never steal the spotlight from chronically frazzled fellow parents, Julia, Kevin and Liz. Now, Amandaland has arrived on BBC One, and the clue is in the title: the spotlight has been stolen. Noooooo! Itâs like entering a universe where Charlie Bucketâs been gazumped by Veruca Salt.
Motherland was axed after its 2022 Christmas special pulled in merely average viewing figures. Arguably, lessons have been learnt. Where the final festive episode was bracingly bleak, Amandaland (written by roughly the same team, plus Horrible Historiesâs Laurence Rickard) has a cosier, more romcom-ish vibe.
With Amandaâs off-screen ex, Johnny (Terry Mynott), refusing to subsidise her W4 lifestyle, our worldly heroine has been forced to relocate to a flat in SoHa (south Harlesden). Sheâs also allowing her two teenage kids, Georgie and Manus, to go to a âbog standard state schoolâ. Amandaâs downstairs neighbour, Mal (Samuel Anderson), is handsome, decent, gainfully employed, unattached and has a son who goes to the same school. Initially, Amanda and Mal find each other irritating. Soon, tiny sparks are flying. Amanda may not realise it yet, but Malâs so Mr Right for her. Yawn.
Meanwhile, Motherland favourite Felicity (Joanna Lumley), Amandaâs vivaciously vicious booze-hound of a mum, has had a personality makeover. Thanks to the divine Lumley, she is still great value, but as the series progresses she appears increasingly good-hearted. I kept hoping Georgie and Manus would ask this cuddly figure: âWho are you and what have you done with our real Gan Gan?â
On the plus side, the undeniably talented Punch has never been better. She juggles her expressions so we never know whether to expect innocence or low cunning. You get the feeling Punch realises this is her big shot at mainstream success; even when Amanda cluelessly mixes up A Clockwork Orange with a chocolate orange, Punch delivers the line as if her life depended on it.
As for Siobhan McSweeney, as new character Della, she's on fire. Della is a charismatic celebrity chef from Ireland, with a wife and daughter. Sheâs the only âmum-chumâ Amanda deems worthy of attention, though it would be an understatement to say that Della has no time for Amandaâs fawning (at one point, Amanda flirtatiously asks to eat pork from the tip of Dellaâs carving knife; Dellaâs look of horror is one for the ages).
Punch and Lumley in âAmandalandâ (BBC)As Sister Michael in Derry Girls, McSweeney showed that she excels at lofty truculence. The fresh ingredient here is Dellaâs âsoppyâ attitude towards her English wife, Fi (Rochenda Sandall). Loved-up Della dotes on the flaky, Fi, who, in turn, canât resist being nice to Amanda. Della and Fiâs sexually charged and vaguely dysfunctional relationship subverts sitcom rules (the gay couple are neither predatory grotesques nor bland, squeaky-clean role models). Just as importantly, the chemistry between McSweeney and Sandall is palpable. Basically, if youâre looking for a zeitgeisty and accessible screwball farce, youâll be left giddy by what the two actors, in conjunction with Punch, pull off.
McSweeney is equally sublime in a plot thread involving Derry Girls veteran Philipa Dunne, here reprising her role as Amandaâs Irish pal/lickspittle Anne. Della and Anne have a falling out, triggered by a wild kidsâ party at Dellaâs house, yet the acrimony between the women has deeper and, some would say socio-political, roots. Asked about Anne, Della growls, âShe hates the Irish!â This is, to put it mildly, an atypical feud. As a self-loving Celt, Iâm on tenterhooks to see how it pans out.
Other highlights include a school parentsâ evening thatâs rightly compared to Squid Game, plus a filthy joke about a pearl necklace and Amandaâs take on protective headgear (âForced to choose between brain damage and helmet-hair, I think you know where I stand.â)
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Try for freeWhile weâre on the subject of Amandaâs looks, itâs a neat touch that the character (who is secretly peri-menopausal, as well as desperate to establish herself as a new-fangled entrepreneur) hasnât remotely come to terms with the ageing process. Even in Motherland, Amanda had angst. In the new show, as youâd expect, thereâs more time to explore her loneliness and self-doubt. What is Amanda good for? The answer is frequently absolutely nothing. But we root for this absurd and vulnerable woman all the same.
Though screeners of episodes five and six werenât made available for review, Amandaland already has a nice sense of place. Snobby and out-of-touch characters complain that Harlesden is a crime spot, smells âof busesâ and contains nothing but âchicken shopsâ. That last jibe surely counts as an in-joke. As demonstrated by Amelia Dimoldenbergâs cult YouTube show, Chicken Shop Date (regularly filmed on Harlesden High Street), chicken shops aren't what they used to be. In Notting Hill, Richard Curtis minimised the realities of gentrification to an outrageous degree. Amandaland, by contrast, seems deliberately designed to get us talking about what happens to a deprived area when the middle classes move in.
Every now and again, an iconoclastic gem spawns an entirely worthy spin-off (Rhoda was as groundbreaking, in its own way, as The Mary Tyler Moore Show; Phoenix Nights easily matched the highs of That Peter Kay Thing). Itâs too early to say if Amandaland is in that league. Letâs just say this clever and jolly series is hard to resist. Though, in case you canât tell, I really did try.
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