Joanna Lumley Joins Main Cast of 'Amandaland'
Philippa Dunne as Anne Flynn, Lucy Punch as Amanda and Joanna Lumley as Felicity in 'Amandaland'
BBC
Sharon Horgan's Bad Sisters is one of the closest things Apple TV+ has to a hit comedy since Ted Lasso ended. However, it's far from Horgan's first show or her first to cross the pond to America. Horgan moved into producing in 2014, and by 2016, she had the short-lived Sarah Jessica Parker series Divorce on HBO, and the BBC hit Motherland, which aired on Sundance. Note that it's "aired;" 2016 was still a period where linear TV was still considered a better deal than streaming. However, it meant that when Horgan made a second series in 2019, there was no streaming service for Motherland to stream on. When the third and final one arrived in 2022, it disappeared into the niche offerings of AMC.
Starring Anna Maxwell Martin (Until I Kill You) as Julie, Motherland was an ensemble slapstick comedy series about raising children in London's middle class. The series begins with Julei's mother deciding she is no longer free to babysit, forcing her daughter to juggle her PR job and her kids without help from her perpetually absent husband. Meanwhile, she becomes friends with other stay-at-home parents (Diane Morgan and Paul Ready); the three become the badly behaved members of the local mother's group run by grownup mean girl Amanda (Lucy Punch). For the record, all three seasons of Motherland are on AMC+ and Sundance Now.
However, it will be interesting to see if Horgan continues that AMC Networks deal with the forthcoming spinoff of the series, Amandaland. Initially announced in the spring of 2024, the new series puts the neighborhood's queen bee front and center now that her divorce is finalized and her children have hit secondary school. Punch returns as the titular Amanda, with her minion, the perennially pregnant Anne (Phillipa Dunne). The new series will also co-star Amanda's mother, Felicity, introduced in Season 3 and played by the legendary Joanna Lumley (Absolutely Fabulous).
Though Amanda starred in three seasons of Motherland, one will not have to have watched the original to enjoy the new series. Here's the synopsis.
Post her divorce, Amanda has had to downsize and up sticks to South Harlesden, or as the Estate Agent calls it SoHa (definitely not the area around Wormwood Scrubs prison). With both Manus and Georgie now at secondary school, Amanda has to try and get her head around raising teenagers and dealing with modern motherhood horrors like teenage drinking, fake Instagram accounts, and eco-anxiety. Not even a woman as sure of her parenting as Amanda can deal with these nightmares alone.
Amanda’s mother, Felicity, is constantly around and completely in denial that she is, 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 is 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 new cast for Amandaland joining Punch, Lumley, and Dunne includes Samuel Anderson (Doctor Who) as Mal, Siobhan McSweeney (Derry Girls) as Della, Rochenda Sandall (Hijack) as Fi, Ekow Quartey (Trying) as JJ and Peter Serafinowicz (The Gentlemen) as Johannes.
Horgan said in the press release, "I was genuinely sad having to say goodbye to Motherland. There's such a fondness for that show and those characters. So it was a real thrill to pick up the further adventures of Amanda and Anne, not to mention Felicity. Lucy, Phillipa, and Joanna are at the top of their game in these roles and are joined by a hilarious and talented new cast. I can't wait to showcase the challenges of parenthood and the very particular kind of friendship the school gates bring."
The Merman team created the new series, including Horgan and her regular collaborators Holly Walsh, Helen Serafinowicz, and Barunka O'Shaughnessy. Walsh, Serafinowicz, and O'Shaughnessy wrote the scripts with additional help from Laurence Rickard (Ghosts)—the three also executive produced for Merman with Horgan and Clelia Mountford.
Amandaland does not yet have a release date, but it is expected to film in the next few months and arrive n late 2025 or early 2026.
