The BBC has renewed the hit comedy ‘Amandaland‘, starring Lucy Punch, Joanna Lumley and Philippa Dunne for a 2nd Season the UK broadcaster has announced.
Produced by Merman, ‘Amandaland’ follows Lucy Punch as Amanda, who in series one had to downsize and up sticks to South Harlesden, or as the estate agent called it SoHa (definitely not the area around Wormwood Scrubs prison) post her divorce.
With both Manus and Georgie at secondary school, Amanda had to try and get her head around raising teenagers, dealing with modern motherhood horrors like teenage drinking, fake Instagram accounts and eco-anxiety. Not even a woman as certain of her parenting as Amanda could deal with those nightmares alone.
Amanda’s mother Felicity (Joanna Lumley) was constantly around, and completely in denial that she was, in fact, lonely. Theirs is a slightly unhealthy co-dependent relationship based on backhanded compliments and veiled snipes about her new home.
After a brief spell of freedom, Anne (Philippa Dunne) was sucked back into being Amanda’s minion to help her navigate the social scene with the other parents at the children’s new school. Thank God for Anne.
The first series also introduced a host of new characters, including Amanda’s long-suffering downstairs neighbour Mal (Samuel Anderson) and JJ (Ekow Quartey), the stepfather to Mal’s son Ned, as well as power couple Della and Fi (Siobhán McSweeney and Rochenda Sandall) and smooth-talking South African property developer Johannes (Peter Serafinowicz).
Since launching, the series has averaged 6.4 million viewers to date, making it the BBC’s second biggest comedy launch in recent years (excluding specials), behind ‘Ludwig’ (9.5 million) and on par with ‘The Outlaws’ (6.4 millions), according to the latest data. The series has also been a hit with younger audiences, drawing 0.9 million 16-34s, the biggest BBC comedy audience in this demographic since ‘The Cleaner’ in 2021.
“With any new show you put out there, your main hope is to make something you love and are proud of,” said Sharon Horgan, Co-Founder of Merman. “The extra bonus is that it’s a critical hit. But to have a loyal audience of this size is just beyond your hopes and expectations. The incredible cast and writers, director and production team worked so hard on this show and it’s so wonderful to see that hard work pay off. Special thanks to Lucy for being the most extraordinary front woman and to the BBC for having such faith in the idea of Amandaland from the off.”
The critical reception has also been great, with a five-star review in The Times saying “Punch carries most of the heavy lifting with ease, and the result is not only a spin-off that punches above its weight: it is lovely, life-affirming escapism.” Heat adds about the ‘Motherland’ spin-off “With a hilarious dialogue from the same team who write Motherland, a glorious cast of characters old and news, and a dazzlingly fast and funny opening episode, Amandaland looks like being just as fabulous as its parent show.”
“We always had high hopes for Amandaland, but it’s been amazing to see how much viewers have embraced not just the returning characters, but the brilliant new additions too,” said Tanya Qureshi, Head of Comedy at the BBC. “We’re so thrilled to reunite with this talented team for another instalment of Amanda’s new life in SoHa.”
‘Amandaland’ was created by Sharon Horgan (Bad Sisters, Catastrophe), Holly Walsh (Motherland, The Other One, Dead Boss), Helen Serafinowicz (Motherland, Nova Jones), and Barunka O’Shaughnessy (Breeders, Trying, Motherland). It was written by Holly Walsh, Helen Serafinowicz, Barunka O’Shaughnessy and Laurence Rickard (Ghosts, Yonderland). Lionsgate distributes the series worldwide.
‘Amandaland‘ Season 1 can be watched right now on BBC iPlayer. If you want to keep track of this or any other show, you can add them via our Never Miss system, and you’ll be notified when it gets a UK premiere date.
