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 9
Sharon Horgan interview
The busiest woman in TV talks to Ellie Harrison about 'Modern Love', motherhood, anxiety and why 'it's not a bad thing to sound a bit messy'.
Ellie Harrison, The Independent, 12th October 2019In praise of Motherland
Sharon Horgan and co's clever, funny, oestrogen-fuelled comedy is an antidote to the patronising delusions of smug parents..
Rachel Cooke, The New Statesman, 9th October 2019The fake news in Motherland (BBC2) was that the new mum at the school gates, Meg (Tanya Moodie), was a superwoman.
Apparently an international business consultant, she struck deals in multiple languages on her mobile while raising five well-adjusted children and enjoying a blissful marriage.
Naturally, Julia (Anna Maxwell Martin) loathed her. 'Where's your secret sadness?' she fumed. But this is Motherland, where parenthood is the seventh circle of hell and every day when you haven't strangled one of your little darlings can be counted as a success.
No surprises, then, when Meg turned out to be a raging alcoholic who regarded hijacking a bus and confrontations with the police as ordinary hazards of a good binge.
Even if this comedy is a trifle cynical and earthy for some tastes, it's always worth it for the deadpan world-weariness of Liz (Diane Morgan) -- who reckons the chief compensation for being a single mother is getting ten per cent off at Dorothy Perkins.
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail, 8th October 2019TV review: Motherland, BBC2
It was announced just before this second series started that there would be a third series of Motherland. It's be interesting to see how it evolves as there are a few changes in the opening episode of the second run.
Bruce Dessau, Beyond The Joke, 8th October 2019Middle-class mums are in the not-so-flattering spotlight for a second season of Sharon Horgan, Holly Walsh and Helen Linehan's comedy on parenthood at the school gates. As term starts up, there is fresh blood in the form of high-flying mum of four Meg (straight-talking Tanya Moodie); she has conspicuously moved in opposite Julia (Anna Maxwell Martin), who continues to juggle a hectic career with the efforts of keeping up with the other parents. A gleeful takedown of competitive parenting culture.
Ammar Kalia, The Guardian, 7th October 2019Motherland series 2 preview
It's a welcome return for Motherland, the comedy that does for parenthood what The Thick Of It did for politics - revealing in ugly detail the stresses and panic behind every hastily improvised decision made by the tired and harassed.
Steve Bennett, Chortle, 7th October 2019Last night's view: Alison Rowat on Motherland
Review of the BBC Two sitcom.
Alison Rowat, The Herald, 7th October 2019Motherland review
Parenting comedy returns with sad and angry hidden depths.
Ed Cumming, The Independent, 7th October 2019Motherland, series 2, review
This astute, spiky sitcom conjures stress so vivid that it's difficult to watch.
Sarah Carson, i Newspaper, 7th October 2019Motherland, series 2 episode 1 review
Why has it descended into farce?
Michael Hogan, The Telegraph, 7th October 2019