Holly Walsh
- 44 years old
- English
- Writer, director, executive producer, script editor and stand-up comedian
Press clippings Page 6
Motherland's achievement: its near universal appeal
Both parents and the happily child-free will enjoy this borderline revolutionary BBC Two comedy.
Rachel Cooke, The New Statesman, 9th November 2017Following last year's pilot from Sharon Horgan, Holly Walsh and Graham and Helen Linehan, here's a whole series, centring on struggling mums, competitive mums - and mums whose idea of party food is to mash "four caterpillar cakes into a human centipede". In the hysterical opener, Julia (Anna Maxwell Martin, amazing) still can't cope, having organised a "massive fuck-off" children's birthday do. Meanwhile, Lucy Punch's smiling shark Amanda is circling.
Ali Catterall, The Guardian, 7th November 2017Motherland reaches similar heights to Fawlty Towers
Within the first minute of Motherland (BBC Two), a new sitcom from Sharon Horgan and Holly Walsh about being a mum and how bloody awful it is, Julia (Anna Maxwell Martin) is beating her mobile phone against a banister in frustration. It was hard not to be reminded of Basil Fawlty beating his car with a tree branch in vein-swelling exasperation.
Benji Wilson, The Telegraph, 7th November 2017TV preview: Motherland, BBC2
The pilot of Motherland went out last year and was one of the best pilots I've seen in recent memory. But then that's no surprise.
Bruce Dessau, Beyond The Joke, 6th November 2017Preview - Motherland
The first series of Motherland begins Tuesday 7th November on BBC Two. Here are Sophie's thoughts on the opening episode...
Sophie Davies, The Velvet Onion, 4th November 2017The Other One, assuredly a pilot looking for a commission, written by the fab comedian Holly Walsh, was an unlooked-for delight, a fresh and wildly enjoyable half-hour about a just-dead charmer of a bigamist who turns out to have fathered two very-alive daughters, Cathy and Cat. Middle-middle-class Cathy has already downloaded all the TED talks on coping with grief; decidedly non-posh Cat, who's "this summer, finally completed Tinder", decidedly hasn't. They bond nevertheless, in new-found daughterdom and in wry grief.
Siobhan Finneran as one of the mums displays an unexpected and gleeful surefootedness for comedy, but the breakout find is Ellie White (Beatrice in The Windsors) who, as Cathy, dominates every scene with her subtly tremendous mix of unspoken class-horror, and kindness, and just-naughty-enoughness. I'm already a little in love. Expect - hope for, fervently - that commission, and an (equally deserved) run on the back-catalogue of Supertramp.
Euan Ferguson, The Guardian, 17th September 2017Preview - The Other One
While BBC One has been busy with its Comedy Playhouse season of pilots, BBC Two has now beginning showing pilots too.
Ian Wolf, On The Box, 13th September 2017Written by sometime Sharon Horgan collaborator Holly Walsh, this sitcom pilot acts as a showcase for four brilliant, but often underserved, comic talents: Ellie White, Lauren Socha, Siobhan Finneran and Rebecca Front. The former two play sisters - one posh, one not - who only discover each other's existence after their father dies suddenly. Tension is inevitable, but it's nothing a Supertramp singalong won't soothe. Here's hoping for a full series.
Ellen E. Jones, The Guardian, 13th September 2017Holly Walsh interview
'I still watch a lot of comedies where women are basically sexy bystanders'
Siobhan Smith, i Newspaper, 12th September 2017Preview: The Other One
The first of BBC Two's new comedy pilots, The Other One, centres around two half-sisters who don't know about each other until their dad dies. Sophie Davies has had a sneak peek...
Sophie Davies, The Velvet Onion, 11th September 2017