# Motherland (2017)

> A cancelled British sitcom following a group of competitive, exhausted middle-class mothers in West London as they navigate the trials of parenthood.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/59588

## Facts

- Seasons: 3
- Episodes: 17
- Episode runtime: 29 min
- Status: Canceled
- Genres: comedy
- Created by: Sharon Horgan, Graham Linehan, Holly Walsh, Helen Serafinowicz
- Network: BBC Two
- Cast: Anna Maxwell Martin, Diane Morgan, Paul Ready, Lucy Punch, Phillipa Dunne, Oliver Chris, Ellie Haddington, Tanya Moodie
- TMDB rating: 8.0/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6006350/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: brisk
- Intensity: mild
- Complexity: simple
- Violence: none
- Tone: witty, irreverent, sardonic, cringe comedy, unromantic

## What critics say

Audiences broadly rate the sitcom positively for its sharp, candid take on the competitive and unglamorous side of parenting.

## Synopsis

Motherland (2017-2021) is a British sitcom created by Sharon Horgan, Graham Linehan, Holly Walsh and Helen Serafinowicz for BBC Two. Anna Maxwell Martin plays Julia, a harried mother at the center of a close circle of West London parents, alongside Diane Morgan as the wry Liz, Paul Ready as Kevin and Lucy Punch as the status-conscious Amanda. The engine of the show is the daily grind of raising children in a competitive middle-class milieu, where playground politics, school admissions, birthday parties and nursery run-ins become battlegrounds for pride and self-worth. Each half-hour episode is a self-contained comic skirmish, and the characters' small humiliations accumulate over three seasons into a sharp, affectionate portrait of exhaustion and friendship. The show runs as a short, character-driven sitcom in a tradition of irreverent British comedy, its tone witty, sardonic and unromantic about parenthood. Viewers who enjoy Fleabag, Catastrophe and the satirical bite of The Thick of It will find much of the same cringe-inducing honesty here.

## Shows like Motherland

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- [Yes, Dear (2000)](https://ember.film/tv/4377)
- [Outnumbered (2007)](https://ember.film/tv/11925)
- [Back (2017)](https://ember.film/tv/64197)
- [The Duchess (2020)](https://ember.film/tv/89659)
- [This Way Up (2019)](https://ember.film/tv/77704)
- [Man Down (2013)](https://ember.film/tv/46811)
- [Flowers (2016)](https://ember.film/tv/58425)

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