Alma's Not Normal to end as Sophie Willan writes Pendle witch satire
- Sophie Willan has said that there will be no third series of Alma's Not Normal but she wants to tie the BAFTA Award-winning, loosely autobiographical comedy up with a Christmas special
- The comedian has also revealed that Steve Pemberton is joining the cast for the upcoming second series of the BBC Two sitcom
- And she told The Guilty Feminist podcast that she is currently writing a satire about the Pendle witches with fellow Boltonian actor Maxine Peake
Alma's Not Normal will end with its upcoming second series, creator and star Sophie Willan has revealed.
However, she is currently working on a Christmas special to bookend the loosely autobiographical BBC comedy.
Teasing the new episodes, which British Comedy Guide understands will air on BBC Two shortly this autumn, Willan also disclosed that Steve Pemberton has joined the cast, playing the brother of Alma's grandmother, Joan (Lorraine Ashbourne), who develops cancer.
Willan, who has won two BAFTA Awards, for her writing and acting in Alma, is now working on her next project, a satire about the Pendle witch trials of 1612, which she is developing with fellow Boltonian actor Maxine Peake.
Appearing on comedian Deborah Frances-White's The Guilty Feminist podcast, Willan reflected upon Alma's journey, based on her own experiences, and the show's shift from sitcom to comedy-drama over its two series.
In sitcoms, "the old-fashioned idea of that is that you have a character, they have certain traits that they cannot escape, that they keep repeating" the writer and stand-up told Frances-White.
In Series 1, which aired in the autumn of 2021, "Alma's set-up [was sitcom]. And a bit in Series 2."
But in later episodes, "there's a series of events that change that. So by the end of the series, she's not a situational comedy character. You won't see her repeat the same patterns.
"Basically, they're not getting a Series 3. I'm done.
"I want to do a Christmas special, they've commissioned the script. But I don't want to do another series. I want to wrap up the journey. She is no longer a situational comedy protagonist. They have to not learn, that's the point. She's Del Boy at the end when he gets boring and rich."
BCG has contacted the BBC about the Christmas special but a spokesperson declined to comment.
Alongside Willan, Ashbourne and Pemberton, Alma, which is made by Expectation (The Change, Intelligence), co-stars Jayde Adams, Siobhan Finneran, James Baxter and Dave Spikey.
The League Of Gentlemen and Inside No. 9 star Pemberton appeared alongside Willan in Series 17 of Taskmaster earlier this year and starred with Finneran as husband and wife Mick and Janice Garvey in the ITV sitcom Benidorm.
The Telegraph called Alma's first series "bruising and brilliant", while the Guardian's five star review described it as "a breath of fresh air, a resolutely British, properly northern, grown-up comedy that manages to turn its bleak-on-paper subject matter into a rude, witty and audacious show".
Willan, who, like her eponymous character, grew up in care, had a heroin addict mother and was a sex worker before becoming a writer and actor, told Frances-White: "I just want to have some fun.
"Navel-gazing into your own trauma's quite knackering. I just want to have a nice time and write about witches burning at the stake."
She and dinnerladies and Shameless star Peake have been commissioned to write a script about the Pendle witches she said, though she declined to mention for which company or broadcaster.
Some of the most famous witch trials in English history, nine women and two men from the area of Pendle Hill in Lancashire were tried as witches in August 1612, with six of the accused coming from just two families.
One of the accused, Alice Nutter inspired the character of Agnes Nutter, the last true witch burned in England in Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman's novel Good Omens. She was played by Josie Lawrence in the BBC Two and Amazon Prime adaptation.
BBC Two previously aired the sitcom The Witchfinder in 2022, based in the same period and starring Daisy May Cooper and Tim Key. Running for a single series, it was written and directed by Alan Partridge scribes Rob Gibbons and Neil Gibbons.
"We're interested in the satire of it, how does it relate to now?" Willan said of the Pendle witches. "The king at the time [James I] was quite Trumpite really ... There's loads of humour in it as well. And also, lots of politically relevant things about how we're treating women and also people and refugees, working class people. There's lots there."
Alma's Not Normal
A bitingly funny and unflinching take on class, sexuality, mental health and substance abuse.
After a recent break-up, Alma tries to get her life back on track. But with no job, no qualifications and a rebellious streak a mile wide, it is not going to be easy. Meanwhile, her heroin-addicted mum has been sectioned for arson, and her vampish grandma Joan wants nothing to do with it.
Alma's Not Normal celebrates women dealing with the hand they were dealt, while doggedly pursing their dreams.
First released: Monday 6th December 2021
DVD- Distributor: Dazzler
- Region: 2
- Discs: 1
- Minutes: 169
- Subtitles: English
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