![Motherland. Image shows from L to R: Liz (Diane Morgan), Julia (Anna Maxwell Martin), Kevin (Paul Ready) Motherland. Image shows from L to R: Liz (Diane Morgan), Julia (Anna Maxwell Martin), Kevin (Paul Ready)](https://cdn.comedy.co.uk/images/library/comedies/300x200/m/motherland_series.jpg)
Motherland
- TV sitcom
- BBC Two / BBC One
- 2016 - 2022
- 20 episodes (3 series)
Comedy about middle-class parenthood and juggling kids, school, and other parents. Stars Anna Maxwell Martin, Diane Morgan, Paul Ready, Lucy Punch, Philippa Dunne and more.
Episode menu
Series 2, Episode 4 - The Purge
![Motherland. Image shows from L to R: Anne (Philippa Dunne), Amanda (Lucy Punch), Julia (Anna Maxwell Martin) Motherland. Image shows from L to R: Anne (Philippa Dunne), Amanda (Lucy Punch), Julia (Anna Maxwell Martin)](https://cdn.comedy.co.uk/images/library/comedies/900x450_eps/m/motherland_0204.jpg)
Broadcast details
- Date
- Monday 28th October 2019
- Time
- 10pm
- Channel
- BBC Two
- Length
- 30 minutes
Cast & crew
Anna Maxwell Martin | Julia |
Diane Morgan | Liz |
Paul Ready | Kevin |
Lucy Punch | Amanda |
Philippa Dunne | Anne |
Tanya Moodie | Meg |
Ellie Haddington | Marion |
Jackie Clune | Mrs Lamb |
Nick Nevern | Lee |
Lily Frazer | Rose |
James Doherty | PC Hughes |
Hector Cornelius Hewer | Darren |
Marilyn O'Brien | Mum |
Lee Mead | Self |
Sharon Horgan | Writer |
Helen Serafinowicz (as Helen Linehan) | Writer |
Holly Walsh | Writer |
Barunka O'Shaughnessy | Writer |
Juliet May | Director |
Sam Pinnell | Producer |
Richard Boden | Executive Producer |
Sharon Horgan | Executive Producer |
Clelia Mountford | Executive Producer |
Holly Walsh | Executive Producer |
Samantha Frith | Line Producer |
Jake Bernard | Editor |
Anna Sheldrake | Production Designer |
Sarah Crowe | Casting Director |
Ben Marks | Casting Director |
Caroline Pitcher | Costume Designer |
Greg Duffield | Director of Photography |
Vanessa White | Make-up Designer |
Oli Julian | Composer |
Kas Braganza | 1st Assistant Director |
Alex Moody | Commissioning Editor |
Press
The mighty Motherland continued; it's still gloriously funny, but now, also, irksome. In a good way. Because, just as we're now trying to include harried mums in all the causes screaming for our empathies, our antihero Julia suddenly behaves like the self-centred, entitled sod we all half-suspected, ramping up her "victimhood" to take huge advantage, again and again, of a kindly soul in a cafe (and never mind the poor owner, always down at least half a day's heating in exchange for one all-day latte).
Irksome in a good way because it denotes the supreme confidence of the script to dare to show Julia as several-dimensioned, and one of those dimensions (it turns out) is sweet-smiley manipulative bitch. It's probably no coincidence that there are no fewer than four writers involved, of presumably strong self-opinion and character themselves (one's Sharon Horgan); mimsier hands would have shied away from addling viewers' simple brains with such complexity. Is this, finally, Britain catching on to the US trick, employed in hit after hit, of dedicated writing teams?
Euan Ferguson, The Observer, 27th October 2019