We loved the pilot, now there's a series : Motherland

[Optimist1]

Remember Anna Maxwell-Martin playing the heroine who's trying to negotiate her way through motherhood, school gate cliques etc? Diane Morgan playing her plucky new friend, and SAHD Paul Ready? Written by Graham and Helen Linehan, Sharon Horgan and Holly Walsh?

The pilot is being shown again on BBC2 on Monday at 10:00pm with the series to start next week, according to Radio Times.

I watched it. A bit cliched and the stress levels watching it went through the roof. Big Linehan fan but not that impressed.

I loved the pilot, but the series is not so good. I hate that Julia is so horrid to her mum and has such high expectations of what her mum will do for her.

I also find the whole absent husband thjng really boring. Why does she let him treat her and their dc like that? If she came on here to complain about him, she’d be shouted down by cries of “LTB”. I’d warm to them much more, if it was about both of them juggling childcare together.

Also, how has she got as far as having a child in Y4(ish ???) and not realise that school has a breakfast club?

I wanted to like it but I find AMM SO irritating to watch; Liz has all of the best lines and I think her character is great - but the rest of them are far too exaggerated to be funny (IMO). But I can't stand plots with massive holes in - as someone upthread said, if she's an events planner, surely she'd be more organised; and getting to Y4 and not knowing about breakfast club is ridiculous, as is not having a nanny, given the house they live in. And the way she treats her mother is awful to watch (in the series - I agree the pilot was better in that regard). But then I hated Catastrophe and don't think I even sniggered once, so this obviously isn't my humour!!

Yes Liz is the best character. Also if you watch to the end of the series Ann is great too.

I don't know they can have kept the same setup and characters from the pilot and yet have gone so wrong?

Loved it!

I love this show, but, my sympathy for Julia evaporates when she has a go at her mum all the time. All the rest of it I can relate to, but not that.

Her daughter is, what, 9? She is a professional event organiser and has no idea how to throw a kids’ party. She’s never done it before? And she’s mean to her mum. And she lives in a lovely house.
Nah. Not really a premise I can see.
I’m sure there’s a great back story which will unfold as the season goes on. But I don’t really care. Sorry.
Shame. Missed opportunity.

It took me the pilot and a few episodes to ‘get’ the full concept, and I don’t think it’s made clear enough: the premise is that up until now Julia has left her mother to do absolutely everything with the kids; pick-ups and drop-offs, holiday childcare, parties etc. That’s why everyone thinks that the children are Marion’s and no-one knows Julia despite her oldest child being in year 4 (?). That’s why she has no clue about birthday parties, doesn’t know about breakfast club etc, and why she is all at sea when her mother suddenly puts her foot down and refuses to do everything any more.

Perhaps not terribly plausible but that is why she is so naïve in absolutely everything to do with motherhood.

Not sure I can sympathise with a couple who left a grandparent to do everything. Mean on the grandparent and frankly mean to them for suggesting they (particularly she) know nothing about looking after kids.
I used to be bit about my brother and his wife who appeared to leave everything to their nanny for the sake of jobs and, frankly, social life. But I think they could have made a good go of a party.

Think pilot was better

The grandmother is enjoying her life. Not sure why she is meant to be looking after her grandkids and why made to feel bad

But as someone said a few episodes in you find out why she is like that

Love, love, love it.

I've just watched the pilot and part of episode 1 but basically given up on the rest. Permanently stressed people like Julia make me stressed, particularly when it's so self-induced. If you're already late when you deliver your child to school, why would you hang around for another half hour lying about the fact that you forgot it was half term? In fact how did they even get into the school, they're normally locked up like Fort Knox for very good reasons? And I couldn't relate to a working mother who doesn't have Plans A, B and C for childminding disaster days, you just have to.

When they started talking about the party I knew it was going to be one of those stressed-out faux funny disasters and I decided I just couldn't sit through it.

Kevin is ruining it for me, I just don't like the character his playing.

I agree about the self-imposed stressiness-it's exhausting!

I still find it funny tjough.

Just watched the pilot, it fell so short I’m afraid. The idea is great but it was too silly. The stressed mum, the lame dad, the queen bee. Gah. Shame really.

I’m waiting for someone to mention classic mn’s phrases such as ‘I feel like a single mum’, snowflake, entitled, cancel the cheque etc, and then we know the writers are mumsnetters!

Just to say I absolutely love Catastrophe. Am going to try Motherland this week.

I absolutely loved it!

I've watched it back to back twice whilst doing housework.

Some of you are very critical. It's a sitcom not a drama or documentary. We can all pick holes in it - like how does she have time to be in the coffee shop so much - but it was original and funny.

I think it could have been so so much better.
It was boring.

Boring?! Dh and I were actually laughing out loud - poor Kevin in the swimming pool

Thanks for the explanation, HaHa. That backstory papers over some of the cracks.

biblio You're welcome, but it shouldn't really need explaining! I think that's a real fault in the writing.

Oh my God, I loved the pilot but hadn't twigged this is a series now! Thank you so much, this thread just made my day!

It is basically the comedy series Pulling 10-15 years on. Few/none of the characters in that were meant to be likeable and it is the same here.

It's not really a matter of picking holes, it's just you can't really help noticing the plot holes, and it gets really annoying if there's a perfectly simple solution to whatever the current crisis is, but the script artificially forces them not to use that solution.

For instance, harping back to the pilot - Julia had a choice of admitting to the school that she was there during half term because she'd got the dates wrong, or lying about it. She was already in a tearing hurry, the staff really wouldn't have cared, and she certainly wouldn't be the first parent to get the date wrong. So, rather than choose the relatively painless course of action that gets her on her way quickest, she chooses the one that will delay her still further, and wastes time making up pointless lies that the head can blatantly see right through. Given that I was already feeling her stress about being late to work, watching her wasting time like that somehow wound me up more. And who needs totally artificial stress like that in their lives?