Review: The scrambling, shambling comedy of Motherland

Playing the central mom on Motherland (a British sitcom getting its U.S. première on Thursday, on Sundance Now), Anna Maxwell Martin demonstrates a great comedic range of flustered motion.

After the pilot, it was obvious Motherland would return

Creators Sharon Horgan and Graham Linehan mine middle-class motherhood for comedy. These aren't your ordinary middle-class mothers though: they are Mumsnet types that live in large houses in suburban London.

Motherland's achievement: its near universal appeal

Both parents and the happily child-free will enjoy this borderline revolutionary BBC Two comedy.

Motherland: a brutally honest depiction of parenthood

Expect terrifying alpha-mums, chaotic childcare and party politics, says Johanna Thomas-Corr.

Motherland (BBC2) returns, after a pilot, for a series. Good news for middle-class metropolitan breeders for whom it is a funhouse mirror they can point into and chuckle. When I say "they", I mean we. And actually everything is terrifyingly recognisable, testament to the writers' (loads of well-known people) powers of observation, but also why I find it a teeny bit ghastly. Golly, doesn't Anna Maxwell Martin's overwrought Julia annoy well? Thank heavens for Lucy Punch's fabulously Stepfordy queen bee Amanda, and for Diane Morgan's super-droll Liz. And for Ben Crompton, Animal Man, rubbish children's entertainer. Rubbish AND racist. "If your act was amazing I'd put up with a tiny bit of racism," says Liz. Ha!

Motherland review: being a parent is a laughing matter

Motherland (BBC2) is a comedy that captures those moments of parental misery and magnifies them.

Following last year's pilot from Sharon Horgan, Holly Walsh and Graham and Helen Linehan, here's a whole series, centring on struggling mums, competitive mums - and mums whose idea of party food is to mash "four caterpillar cakes into a human centipede". In the hysterical opener, Julia (Anna Maxwell Martin, amazing) still can't cope, having organised a "massive fuck-off" children's birthday do. Meanwhile, Lucy Punch's smiling shark Amanda is circling.

Motherland reaches similar heights to Fawlty Towers

Within the first minute of Motherland (BBC Two), a new sitcom from Sharon Horgan and Holly Walsh about being a mum and how bloody awful it is, Julia (Anna Maxwell Martin) is beating her mobile phone against a banister in frustration. It was hard not to be reminded of Basil Fawlty beating his car with a tree branch in vein-swelling exasperation.

TV preview: Motherland, BBC2

The pilot of Motherland went out last year and was one of the best pilots I've seen in recent memory. But then that's no surprise.

Preview - Motherland

The first series of Motherland begins Tuesday 7th November on BBC Two. Here are Sophie's thoughts on the opening episode...