Amandaland the mother of all comedies, say critics

Amandaland, the new BBC series which is a spin-off from the popular sitcom Motherland, has received a rapturous response from critics.

The show sees Lucy Punch reprise her role as Amanda, the overbearing and competitive mother who was a viewer favourite in the original series.

The Independent said the new spin-off "will make you howl with laughter", adding that English actress Punch "has never been better".

The Telegraph described it as being "both hilarious and heartfelt", adding that lead actress Punch and co-star Dame Joanna Lumley "make a dream comic double act".

In the show, the recently divorced Amanda must navigate parenting teenagers in her new surroundings, after having downsized, swapping Waitrose in Chiswick for Tesco Metro in South Harlesden in the process.

"Spin-offs are always a risk, but Lucy Punch's Amanda was a sure bet," wrote the Guardian's Chitra Ramaswamy in a four-star review.

"Sorry, team Liz, but she was the best character in Motherland: the ideal [writer] Sharon-Horgan-sharpened instrument for impaling the worst excesses, blind spots and hypocrisies of the posh, white, west London middle classes."

She added: "There's lots to love... When the writing is this good, it fizzes with the hysterical energy of perimenopause."

Ramaswamy singled out one line of dialogue where Amanda reflects: "I'm actually glad I took the kids out of private school. They've got way more chance of getting into Oxbridge from a bog-standard state."

'Ab Fab levels of relish'

The "narcissism-powered dynamic" between Amanda and her increasingly good-hearted mother, Felicity, is, the critic noted, "played with Ab Fab levels of relish by Joanna Lumley".

The long-suffering Anne (Philippa Dunne) also returns for the spin-off, and there are new characters, such as Amanda's downstairs neighbour Mal (Samuel Anderson), celebrity chef Della Fry (Derry Girls actress Siobhan McSweeney) and her uber liberal wife Fi (Rochenda Sandall).

The new show was created and written by the same team that came up with Bafta-winning comedy series Motherland; Holly Walsh, Helen Serafinowicz and Barunka O'Shaughnessy, with Horgan credited as creator.

Motherland was reportedly axed after its 2022 Christmas special.

For its follow-up, the Independent's Charlotte O'Sullivan noted: "Arguably, lessons have been learnt.

"Where the final festive episode [of Motherland] was bracingly bleak, Amandaland (written by roughly the same team, plus Horrible Histories's Laurence Rickard) has a cosier, more romcom-ish vibe."

In her four-star review, O'Sullivan said the story of "Punch's posh alpha mum, is clever, jolly and hard to resist".

"Even in Motherland, Amanda had angst," she said. "In the new show, as you'd expect, there's more time to explore her loneliness and self-doubt. What is Amanda good for? The answer is frequently absolutely nothing. But we root for this absurd and vulnerable woman all the same."

"Richard Curtis [the Notting Hill and Love Actually director] minimised the realities of gentrification to an outrageous degree," she continued. "Amandaland, by contrast, seems deliberately designed to get us talking about what happens to a deprived area when the middle classes move in."

The Telegraph's Anita Singh awarded the series five stars, labelling it as "a treat" from both the writers and its stars.

She added that Punch "excels at physical comedy and is hilarious as she tries to style out her reduced circumstances".

"The script is deft and the writers nail the various stages of parenting teenagers: helping them through first love, carting them home in disgrace when they've got drunk and thrown up on themselves, and realising that you can't help them with their maths homework any more because you don't understand it."

'A modern Mrs Bucket'

The Times' Carol Midgley noted how Spin-off series "can easily disappoint, as Joey, a feeble offshoot of Friends, showed.

"But I just knew that Amandaland, offspring of the mighty Motherland, would be glorious... and it is."

She compared the "deliciously desperate" new show, and its leading woman, to being like "a Hyacinth Bucket for 2025".

"Keeping Up Appearances was so joyous because it mocked the absurdity of prideful status-seeking," she noted of the Patricia Routledge-starring 1990s BBC sitcom.

"Amanda is Hyacinth for the new age (imagine if Hyacinth had had social media!)."

"Punch carries most of the heavy lifting with ease," she wrote, "and the result is not only a spin-off that punches above its weight: it is lovely, life-affirming escapism."

There was another five-star rating from Christopher Stevens in the Daily Mail.

"Amanda's an awful woman, of course," he said, "a backstabbing snob who treats her children as accessories and turns every encounter with her 'mum chums' at the school gates into a blood sport."

He also praised Dame Joanna, saying she "gathers up the laughs and sweeps them into her handbag like an aristocratic shoplifter on a spree".

Tilly Pearce of the Radio Times awarded four stars, writing: "Spin-off shows can often be a bit of a tricky tightrope. To be successful, they need to find balance with the old and new, which is kind of apt, given Amanda's situation.

"Thankfully, Amandaland manages to achieve this in spades, providing a fresh twist on the familiar humour with a new gang, new location, and new phase of motherhood to deal with."