For Women Scotland TV Drama / Mumsnet the Movie - Official Discussion thread

[fromorbit]

Attention TV and film Producers/Directors/Writers.

This is the Mumsnet thread in which Mumsnetters explain the best way of dramatising the way Mumsnet saved Scotland, the UK and the world. Please play careful attention. You will be tested on this.

You can send the Film/TV money to the usual bank accounts where the Big Oil/ Christian Right cash goes.

It is only a matter of time till the series/film is made as this Mail article reveals:

Could gender law victory by Scots mothers be the next Mr Bates hit drama?
When three Scottish mothers met on Mumsnet eight years ago, they could never have imagined their late-night forum posts would lead to the Supreme Court.

Still less could they have predicted their fight with the Scottish Government over the legal meaning of ‘woman’ would catch the attention of TV producers – and the journalist behind Mr Bates vs The Post Office.

Nick Wallis, the investigative reporter who exposed the scandal and was a consultant on the award-winning drama, believes the story of For Women Scotland (FWS) ‘lends itself’ to a TV drama...

Ms Calder acknowledged there has been some interest shown in putting their story on television.
She said: ‘Who would play us? It would have to be Meryl Streep for me and I know Susan loves Margot Robbie. Trina, well, she’d like Holly Hunter.’

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15202865/Could-gender-law-victory-Scots-mothers-Mr-Bates-hit-drama.html

Please discuss vital ideas like:

What should the drama be called?

How much budget needs to be set aside for teacakes ?

How does the plot unfold? Please give script outlines.

We have casting for the trio of heroes sorted, but lots of other questions? Who plays Nichola Sturgeon ? JKR? The Lawyers? Who plays the Rozzers in the action sequence?

And most importantly of all.

Who do you want your character to be played by in the Mumsnet Movie?

JKR? Cate Blanchett? Supposedly retired from acting but might be tempted back?

We need a gaggle of MNetters like in a Greek theater chorus providing commentry and light relief.

Surely JKR would make a cameo appearance as herself?

Maxine Peake would make a good Sturgeon if she gets the accent right but since she is all TWAW she'd probably decline.

Yeah, she might, although I would love the idea of having CB play me.

I should be played by an 'older' jobbing actress, though it's a very small role. The main action's frequently intercut with multiple vignettes of Mumsnetters reading the threads and press stories, then donating to the crowdfunder. Very important the writer knows about 'gardening' on this board!

Kate Winslet, had she let herself go.

ChatGPt has this:

Here’s a precis of a fictional, slightly satirical yet rousing drama-docu-epic based on the idea that Mumsnet saved Scotland, the UK, and the world—with all the necessary ingredients: online drama, grassroots feminism, political intrigue, and a digital uprising.

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Title: Threads of Destiny: How Mumsnet Changed the World

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Genre:

Dramatic political satire / feminist resistance thriller / semi-mythologised social media epic.

Tone:

Erin Brockovich meets The Thick of It with notes of The Social Network and The Crown.

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Story Arc:

Act I: The Awakening (Scotland Rising)

Set in the early 2020s, as political tensions around gender policy in Scotland escalate, an unlikely battleground emerges: the parenting forum Mumsnet.
The group For Women Scotland (FWS), formed by fiercely articulate, ordinary Scottish women, begins to organise, strategise, and speak out against gender self-ID legislation.

• Mumsnet becomes their digital stronghold. Feminist threads surge in popularity, drawing thousands into the conversation.

Act II: The Reckoning (The UK Catches Fire)

• Across the UK, middle-aged women with usernames like "PeonyInAPeanutAllergy" and "GenderCritic67" lead fiery threads dissecting policy, lobbying MPs, and hosting impromptu political education.
• Mumsnet becomes both an intelligence centre and a refuge, dodging DDOS attacks and press smears.
• JK Rowling drops a cryptic but explosive post under an alias, later revealing herself and joining the cause, raising the stakes and media profile.
• Politicians, academics, and journalists take notice. Some panic. Others rally.

Act III: The Resistance (Saving the World, One Thread at a Time)

• Inspired by Mumsnet and FWS, grassroots women’s rights groups begin forming across the globe.
• A secret “Mumsnet Summit” is held in Edinburgh, disguised as a Bake Off convention, where a coordinated global movement is launched.
• After major policy shifts in Scotland and the UK, international bodies begin re-evaluating gender policy, citing “robust debate initiated on parenting forums.” The film ends with a montage of global women’s rights wins, framed around screenshots of legendary threads, one of which simply reads: “Am I being unreasonable to think we made history?”*

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Key Characters and Suggested Casting:

Lead: Morag MacKenzie – fictionalised co-founder of For Women Scotland

• A working mum from Glasgow who becomes the unlikely general of a digital revolution. Fiercely intelligent, pragmatic, and dryly funny.
• Actor: Kelly Macdonald (for her quiet power and wit)

Supporting Role: JK Rowling (as herself)

Enters midway through the film as a powerful but vulnerable public figure. Offers quiet support, funds legal action, and delivers the speech* in Act III.

• Actor: JK Rowling as herself, or Olivia Colman (if Rowling prefers to remain behind the scenes)

"PeonyInAPeanutAllergy" – composite Mumsnet power user

• A suburban mum with an encyclopedic knowledge of Hansard and a brutal debating style.
• Actor: Lesley Manville – for the steely delivery of devastatingly polite takedowns.

Thread Mod “DawnOfTheMods” – gatekeeper of civility and order

• Holds the power to delete. Wields it like a scalpel. Has a mysterious past.
• Actor: Harriet Walter – cold, composed, and quietly iconic.

Nicola Sturgeon – portrayed during the height of her leadership

• Torn between legacy and policy; her arc involves hubris and political downfall.
• Actor: Tilda Swinton – ethereal and intimidating.

Undercover Mumsnet Mole in Westminster

• Works in government comms, secretly feeding strategic intel to Mumsnet threads.
• Actor: Phoebe Waller-Bridge – playing it with a wink.

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Cameos:

• Rosie Duffield MP (appears in key Commons scene)
• Helen Joyce (as the strategist behind the scenes)
• Julie Bindel (barges into the summit via a fire exit)

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Visual Style & Direction:

Directed by Armando Iannucci for sharp satire and realism, or Sarah Gavron (Suffragette*) for a more earnest feminist tone.

• Occasional dramatic re-enactments of real Mumsnet threads read aloud like Shakespearean monologues.

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Tagline:

"It started with a post. It ended with a movement."

It needs work, but i quite fancy that AIBU thread. 😄

Agree that Holly Hunter should definitely be in it somewhere. In fact, could the whole thing be done in a manner thematically similar to The Piano, with some TRA cutting off Holly's finger as punishment for not making him feel good enough about himself?
Her character in that film is a woman who did wheesht - because the power of her voice had been completely taken away from her by men, and her autonomy destroyed. But the piano was her surrogate voice and her husband resented the fuck out of her mastery of it. The finger chopping was a failed attempt at silencing but she ploughed on through.

In fact, lets all just watch The Piano again and be Holly Hunter.

If Iannucci gets to direct it (and I'm not convinced, it's not like he's shown any support so far) it should be in Death of Stalin mode, not The Thick of It.

I want Boiled to be played by an actual beetle with no explanation why there is a beetle among all the real actors.

I want Boiled to be played by an actual beetle .

Good call. That could be the means of introducing the required Kafka-esque vibe created by the TRA's persecution:

As [Boiled's real name] awoke one morning from uneasy dreams, she found herself transformed in her bed into a gigantic insect. ... 'What has happened to me?' she thought. I was a woman - someone has nicked my material reality...

Why oh why did Mumsnet get rid of the laugh reaction? Have been chuckling all the way through this thread, but particularly at the idea of having an actual beetle to play Boiled. A knowing nod to Kafka is exactly what this story needs.

I like the idea of Harriet Walter as DawnOfTheMods. That suggests the idea of telling the story as a horror movie. There could be a TRA troll, ThreadieKrueger, played by Ralph Fiennes, and a blue-haired zombie horde.

I always suspected ChatGPT had some dodgy programming bias but to describe Nicola Sturgeon as, “ethereal and intimidating”, is jaw droppingly removed from the pugnacious reality. I think Karen Dunbar in full “set-phasers-to-malky” mode would make an excellent First Minister.

Perfect.

Is Janette Krankie still alive?

I love the "encyclopedic knowledge of Hansard" !😂

Nicola Sturgeon should be played by the same lady who played Umbridge in the Harry Potter films 😁

Frances Barber has to be in it somewhere - she has been vocal about the absurdity of gender ideology for ages and she's got an utterly amazing lip curled, look of derision that she uses to fabulous effect when speaking to idiots.

I like Beetle actually being a beetle - very meta. Have to throw in a touch of interpretive dance.

An all knowing narrator - the Fifer from the Sandie Peggie threads, along with a trio of Mumsnetters set slightly off stage, making bon mots.

Tilda Swinton for Nicola?! No. The suggestion of Karen Dunbar (from Chewing the Fat) above is spot on.

She is indeed according to wiki, though at 78 might not want the part.

I'll be honest, I see it more as a stage show. The use of staging, spot lights and trap doors is too good not to utilise.

The (slightly overused) use of characters coming down the aisle from the back of the stalls as well as opening up doors at the side of the stage so that TRA shouting can be heard in the background (off stage) could be used for scenes where women's meetings are surrounded by TRA'S determined to disrupt.

And the Greek chorus/narrator/trio of bon motters could sit in the wings, like all knowing beings.

Ooh, could the 'trio of Mumsnetters set slightly off stage, making bon mots' be a chorus of Furies?
And could they be "terrifying, monstrous hags, with snakes for hair and around their arms, with bloodshot eyes that dripped blood" (courtesy of google AI)?.
And could the bon mots be tinged with promised vengeance in the form of torments in the underworld etc?

I'm going to be played by a rotating cast of 6 Russian bots

I was thinking more of normal women sitting on bar stools, having a laugh amongst themselves, glasses in hand, making witty comments and knowing nods....

But, BUT!

They could transform into Furies at appropriate junctures (running off for a very, very quick costume change) and do a bit of calling down of all the pestilences...

OR....

They could be more like the Witches in Pratchett when they are accidently on stage during 'Wyrd Sisters', around a paper and cardboard fire...

Or a mix of all three. Hmm..

This is great, so clever and funny - I actually thought the op was a joke until I got to the link.

I'm going to break rank in the TV adaptation and play myself, along with a thousand other mumsnetters who tend to read and not post on the basis that saying thank you for the millionth NHS Fife thread will just make the thread fill up even more quickly, especially if I chip in every time I want to say "This is horrifying/hilarious." We will start off as big pictures of us reading the threads, then the pictures of us get smaller and smaller as more of us are added to the screen and it becomes clear that legions of us follow this, silently learning and finding solace.