A spin-off from Motherland, Amandaland is best when it reflects the ensemble nature of its parent show
“We are best friends whether you like it or not”
Was Motherland crying out for a spin-off? Would Lucy Punch’s Amanda have been the one you centred it around? I can’t say I would have said yes to either of these, as much as I enjoyed both, but here we are. Written by Holly Walsh, Helen Serafinowicz, Barunka O’Shaughnessy and Laurence Rickard and produced by Sharon Horgan, six episodes of Amandaland are now live without Julia, Liz or Kevin in sight.
Part of the reason for that is that Amanda has had to downsize after her divorce, leaving Queen’s Park for South Harlesden, or SoHa as she desperately tries to rebrand it, with her teenagers Georgie and Manus. Her mother – Joanna Lumley’s icy Felicity – is hanging around despite turning up her nose at the area and for an awkward couple of episodes, the tone is off as the focus lies too heavily on Amanda’s excruciating attempts to maintain face in her new circumstances.
The show finally finds its groove when it remembers that Motherland succeeded because it was a genuine ensemble show and so as we meet the new group of parents here and crucially, are allowed to get to know them a bit, the recognisable observational humour of the brand shines through. Parents evenings, group camping trips, troubled half-terms, teenage parties, all are mined for every ounce of comic and cringe-making potential as most everyone basically tries to make it to the next day.
Siobhán McSweeney and Rochenda Sandall are superb as power lesbians Della and Fi, and Samuel Anderson’s Mal and Ekow Quartey’s JJ have their own odd couple energy as JJ is now stepfather to Mal’s son and partner to his ex. The only other refugee from Motherland is Phillipa Dunne’s Anne, who is ace when she is allowed to come into her own though as she’s often positioned as a punching bag for Amanda once again, there’s increasingly less evidence why she would let herself be treated this way.
A series that improves as it progresses then, though something is a little amiss when it is a show that is better the less it focuses on its title character.
