Amandaland review – a rare chance to laugh so hard you wee yourself | Television

Amandaland begins, in time-honoured Motherland trend, beneath stress on the varsity run. Besides we’re not in Chiswick – we’re now in south Harlesden, Amanda is driving a Tesla for ever on the point of operating out of battery, and Georgie and Manus, who aren’t so little any extra, have been compelled to maneuver faculty after the collapse of Mummy’s ruthlessly Hygge-Tygge’d life. Cue a pep speak by the worst, by which I imply the perfect, Motherland mom of all. “I’m a folks individual,” says Amanda. “And traditionally our persons are folks folks. So get on the market and discover your folks!”

Ah, it’s good to be again in hell. Spin-offs are all the time a threat, however Lucy Punch’s Amanda was a certain wager. Sorry, staff Liz, however she was the perfect character in Motherland: the best Sharon-Horgan-sharpened instrument for impaling the worstexcesses, blind spots and hypocrisies of the luxurious, white, west London center courses. By the tip of the third and final collection, Amanda had perversely change into the merciless coronary heart of the present. I felt precise compassion for her when she did that dance on the PTA fundraiser that acquired 400 TikTok likes. Bizarre, I know, however that’s what satire at its most skewering can do. It makes you care.

Amandaland is created and written by the Motherland staff Holly Walsh, Helen Serafinowicz and Barunka O’Shaughnessy, with Horgan credited as creator. Extra of the identical, then, which is a praise, as a result of it’s not as if the schedules are teeming with laser-sharp satirical sitcoms about vaginal mesh. Thus from the ashes of W4 Amanda rises to change into the “queen of SoHa”. As a result of, based on Amanda, that’s what property specialists are calling south Harlesden. “You imply that space round Wormwood jail?” asks Anne (Philippa Dunne). There’s tons to like, she prattles on, concerning the new faculty … the Stem hub, rock choir; they are saying the torture scene from A Clockwork Orange was filmed within the playground. Amanda: “I’m truly glad I took the youngsters out of personal faculty. They’ve acquired far more probability of entering into Oxbridge from a bog-standard state.” When the writing is that this good, it fizzes with the hysterical vitality of perimenopause.

So no Julia, Liz or Kevin, then – a minimum of not within the first 4 episodes – however Anne, fortunately, options closely. The connection between her and Amanda is poisonous and codependent, but additionally, it’s a must to concede, form of candy. The identical goes for the narcissism-powered dynamic between Amanda and her mom, Felicity, performed with Ab Fab ranges of relish by Joanna Lumley. In episode one, she arrives with a tuck parcel from Waitrose, “now that you just’ve solely acquired a Tesco Metro”. There’s white wine, Earl Gray candies for the kids and goji berries for Amanda. “That really shall be very nice for my bircher muesli,” Amanda says. “Nonetheless doing breakfast?” Felicity bats again with a sneer.

There are many new characters, some extra profitable than others. Extra males reside in Amandaland (in Motherland, they have been largely noticeable by their absence), however they’re much less convincingly drawn than the ladies. The place it’s finest is in organising bog-standard, completely British, inherently absurd eventualities – the automotive boot sale! The mother and father’ night! – through which to fastidiously insert the characters so everybody reveals their worst aspect.

Take episode one, when Amanda tries to befriend SoHa lesbian energy couple Della (Siobhán McSweeney, in advantageous brusque fettle) and Fi (Rochenda Sandall) at their home occasion. Della is the top chef at Shin, the small-plates restaurant beside the megachurch that was Debenhams; Fi is worryingly into wicker basketry. Collectively, they possess an alarmingly relaxed method to parenting. “I educated in France,” says Della, proper earlier than the youngsters get hammered on armagnac and the grownups eat artisan candies laced with magic mushrooms within the sizzling tub. “Oh, I really like the entire ‘du ache, du vin, du Boursin’ thang,” Amanda replies.

The gags – about Gloria Hunniford, the Simply Seventeen drawback web page and Sinn Féin – are very British and geared toward a really specific viewers, particularly strung out middle-aged mums longing to snicker till they wee a bit at jokes about wellness dietary supplements. Too hardly ever can we get the prospect.

Finally, although, that is Amanda’s present. Her descent from alpha west London mummy to single mom carrying a temper board on a motorcycle (the Tesla doesn’t make it) to promote waste disposal items is uproarious, but additionally unexpectedly shifting.

That is largely resulting from Punch’s comedian timing and earnest supply of killer traces reminiscent of: “I’m truly reclaiming the phrase ‘simpleton’.” But it surely’s additionally right down to the unforgiving terrain of Amandaland, which is to say our land. Amanda could also be a narcissistic vortex who has needed to invent a brand new phrase – “senuous” – to seize her essence, however she can be a mom, who’s alone, unmothered, unravelling and but refusing to loosen her grip on a world designed to interrupt her. And that, tragically and comically, will all the time be relatable.