Motherland
- TV sitcom
- BBC Two / BBC One
- 2016 - 2022
- 20 episodes (3 series)
Comedy about middle-class parenthood and juggling kids, school, and other parents. Stars Anna Maxwell Martin, Diane Morgan, Paul Ready, Lucy Punch, Philippa Dunne and more.
- Series 1, Episode 2 repeated Thursday at 10pm on BBC2
Streaming rank this week: 148
Press clippings Page 14
Belly Laugh? Motherland (BBC2); Detectorists (BBC4)
Both funny, but in different ways. The question is which way around should I watch them?
Shouting At The Telly, 9th November 2017Motherland: a brutally honest depiction of parenthood
Expect terrifying alpha-mums, chaotic childcare and party politics, says Johanna Thomas-Corr.
Johanna Thomas-Corr, Evening Standard, 9th November 2017Motherland (BBC2) returns, after a pilot, for a series. Good news for middle-class metropolitan breeders for whom it is a funhouse mirror they can point into and chuckle. When I say "they", I mean we. And actually everything is terrifyingly recognisable, testament to the writers' (loads of well-known people) powers of observation, but also why I find it a teeny bit ghastly. Golly, doesn't Anna Maxwell Martin's overwrought Julia annoy well? Thank heavens for Lucy Punch's fabulously Stepfordy queen bee Amanda, and for Diane Morgan's super-droll Liz. And for Ben Crompton, Animal Man, rubbish children's entertainer. Rubbish AND racist. "If your act was amazing I'd put up with a tiny bit of racism," says Liz. Ha!
Sam Wollaston, The Guardian, 8th November 2017Motherland review: being a parent is a laughing matter
Motherland (BBC2) is a comedy that captures those moments of parental misery and magnifies them.
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail, 8th 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 2017Sharon Horgan and Anna Maxwell Martin interview
Sharon Horgan and actor Anna Maxwell Martin talk about their new BBC comedy and realistic portrayals of motherhood.
Alexia Skinitis, Radio Times, 7th November 2017Motherland shows parents as winging it - I love it
Two mum stereotypes are constantly repeated on UK TV - the nagging ball-breaker or the demure doormat. As I'm learning, the complexities and nuances of being a mother in real life veer so far from anything that's ever appeared on screen.
Laura Martin, i Newspaper, 6th 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 2017A vision of child rearing that is panic-inducing scary
There's something exhilarating about how Sharon Horgan, Graham Linehan and co don't even try to make these people likable.
The Guardian, 4th November 2017