The BBC and BritBox have released the first trailer for ‘Riot Women‘, the brand-new six-part drama series from multi-BAFTA award-winning writer Sally Wainwright (Happy Valley, Last Tango in Halifax, Gentleman Jack).
Set and filmed in Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire, the series follows five menopausal women who decide to form a punk rock band to enter a local talent contest. What begins as a chaotic midlife rebellion quickly evolves into something bigger, as they find themselves with far more to shout about than they ever imagined. Along the way, teacher Beth and free-spirited freeloader Kitty uncover a heartbreaking connection that changes everything.
The main cast of the band includes Joanna Scanlan (After Love, The Thick of It) as Beth, Rosalie Craig (Moonflower Murders, Serpent Queen) as Kitty, Tamsin Greig (Sexy Beast, The Completely Made Up Adventures of Dick Turpin) as Holly, Lorraine Ashbourne (Sherwood, Alma’s Not Normal) as Jess, and Amelia Bullmore (The Buccaneers, Vienna Blood) as Yvonne. They are joined by Taj Atwal (Line of Duty), Chandeep Uppal (Holby City), and Macy Seelochan (Shadow and Bone) as riotous backing singers Nisha, Kam, and Miranda.
The wider cast features a stacked line-up of talent including Anne Reid (The Sixth Commandment), Sue Johnston (The Royle Family), Peter Davison (Doctor Who), Claire Skinner (Outnumbered), Angel Coulby (Merlin), Jonny Green (White Lines), Ellise Chappell (Yesterday), Tony Hirst (Hollyoaks), Shannon Lavelle (The Hardacres), Mark Bazeley (Broadchurch), Amit Shah (Happy Valley), Rick Warden (Red Eye), Ben Batt (Domina), Natalia Tena (Harry Potter), Melanie La Barrie (& Juliet), Oliver Huntingdon (Sherwood), Richard Fleeshman (The Sandman), Olwen May (A Very British Scandal), Kevin Doyle (Downton Abbey), Nicholas Gleaves (Bodyguard), and Thomas Flynn (Masters of the Air).
Riot Women will also feature original songs from the Brighton-based punk duo ARXX, giving the fictional band an authentic edge.
Created, written, and directed by Sally Wainwright, the series is produced by Drama Republic, a Mediawan Company (One Day, Doctor Foster, The English), for the BBC, and is co-commissioned with BritBox. Jessica Taylor (Happy Valley, Fool Me Once) serves as producer, with executive producers Roanna Benn for Drama Republic, Tanya Qureshi for the BBC, and Robert Schildhouse and Jess O’Riordan for BritBox.
‘Riot Women‘ Season 1 premieres October 2025 on BBC iPlayer and BBC One in the UK, and on BritBox in the US and Canada. If you want to keep track of this or any other shows, you can add them via our Never Miss system, and you’ll be notified when it gets a UK premiere date. Visit Never Miss.
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