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 liked that the characters were flawed. It was all a bit exaggerated but I found it entertaining. Favourite line; "can you call me a cab? I've cut my finger off" and I laughed at the awful swimming party, I've been to a few of those.

I loved it. I binge-watched the whole series on iplayer at the weekend.

Julia is a nightmare - a whirling vortex of panic, entitlement and disorganisation but is not fundamentally bad person. She is trying hard & failing quite a bit but basically keeps the show on the road. For me, her flaws meant I couldn't decide if I sympathised or just want to shake her & say 'wise up woman'.

Mine are nearly grown up now, but the horror of primary school was all brought back for me. The cool cliques, the uber Mums, the users, the martyrs, the too good to be trues etc - it was all there with bells on with observations that were painfully accurate in some places.

It's not perfect and sometimes the humour misses the mark or is too contrived but I still laughed at most of it.

ceto has it.

Ceto does not "have it" shes being bonders. FGS people are taking it way too seriously! Its supposed to be FUNNY not an exact interpretation of modern motherhood.

The fact she bluffed that she knew the school was shut led to several imo pretty funny jokes. It was a funny thing to do in itself, led to the made up accusation of a gentle boy being accused of bullying and his mother rung and the bluffing that her kids wear their uniform for fun. If she had just been honest from the outset that she was mistaken though realistic, that is not funny AT ALL. Dear me.

bonkers

Ok Sharon.

I love other Linehan stuff. It’s sharp, absurd and above all hilarious. This is, on the other hand, just like watching a car crash. It is too steeped in real situations to be outlandish and comical.

Ha I wish.

Its like complaining Only Fools and Horses isn't a realistic interpretation of wheeler dealers.

I just wish it'd been subtler. Missed opportunity, I reckon.

Parts were great, but I felt it was over the top in a way catastrophe wasn’t. Subtler would be been better.

KERALA has it.

Why didn't delboy just get a job?

Why didn't Rachel and Ross make new friends?

Why didn't basil fawlty sell up?

Why didn't Frazier put his dad in a home?

Why didn't that guy in not going out just go out?

Etc etc

Maybe it's just a bit close to the bone..

"Maybe it's just a bit close to the bone.."

I think it was too far away from the bone- so caricatured that it became unidentifiable.

Well said Humps! I can’t bear all the “why didn’t they do this or that?” There'd be no point to the show if they did.

I have had a day off today so decided to give the actual series a go while I was tidying.
I think that there are some fabulous moments and it really grew on me.
However I didn't find the Julia character believable - so there's no comparison with Basil Fawlty. Fawlty Towers is the epitome of farce. I think that there's not enough 'build' with Julia.

Christ how dull would a realistic portrayal of motherhood be? Sensible parents jointly employ cast iron childcare and go to work without incident. Other parents are reasonable, inclusive and polite. Wow sounds hilarious!

I definitely think you’re Sharon.

I would love to write an episode. There's been enough material from reception to year 5 to fill a few seasons.
I'd make sure that not ALL the main characters were white as well.

Oh, I get it completely that there would be no jokes if Julia had done the sensible thing and just admitted she'd forgotten about half term. The point is that they've manufactured a completely artificial situation in order to produce those jokes. You can really only do that in comedy if your main characters are already over the top caricatures like Basil Fawlty; when you're depicting the person concerned as a reasonably normal parent holding down a normal, responsible job, it doesn't really work.

But I guess it's mostly that I just don't like programmes relying on feckless characters who get themselves in to stupid situations with so-called "hilarious results." If anything, it just makes me feel uncomfortable. It's probably tied in with finding nothing funny in slapstick humour. I may well be bonkers, as Kerala so kindly suggests, or it may be that I just don't have the right sense of humour for this programme.

Just found this on BBC iPlayer!

Never heard of it until yesterday, but have watched 4 episodes so far...very amusing indeed

I watched the fundraiser episode yesterday. I think the woman who plays Amanda really showed what a great actor she is in it playing the host. So cringey when she was offering the kiss.
The parents' evening bit wasn't funny to me. I found the parents eve in Outnumbered really good though. I find it funnier when there is an exaggerated version of something i can vaguely relate to or recognise.

I'm liking it overall. I find it quite refreshing that we barely see the children, as the parents are so caught up in the logistics of coping with them that they apparently forget to interact with the children themselves.

I’m ill in bed so binge watched it. Perfect for a sick day. It’s scripted straight out of MN and Julia is exactly like a senior colleague of mine - every single school day it’s like it never happened before, who’s picking the kids up, late late late, disconnected husband who could easily step in but just doesn’t. A dozen times a week I look at her and think “why don’t you just get a nanny ffs” - they’re minted, so it’s not the money.

It’s a bit of fluff, amusing, sufficiently true to life.

I agree: comedy is not realist documentary-making. Exaggeration is allowed for comic effect. That said, the pettiness, contrariness, and seething rage that is visible every day on Mumsnet makes Julia's character seem hardly exaggerated!