Review: Raised by Wolves

Raised by Wolves has come under criticism, some reject it for being a little too garish and crude, however I think this is crucial to its nature.

Raised by Wolves - Episode 2 review

There's a lovely moment when the show pulls a reverse-Pretty Woman as the two store assistants welcome the fragile and nervous Yoko with open arms.

Raised by Wolves episode 2, TV review

Caitlin Moran's sitcom has got joie de vivre to spare.

Channel 4 were hoping to replicate the success of the brilliant Catastrophe with their newest sitcom Raised by Wolves.

The comedy comes courtesy of renowned columnist and award-winning writer Caitlin Moran who created the series alongside her sister Caroline. The siblings based the show on their upbringing in Wolverhampton and are represented respectively by free-spirited Germaine (Helen Monks) and the much more sensible Aretha (Alexa Davies). Germaine and Aretha are two of the six children of Della (Rebekah Staton); the comedy's ballsy matriarch who named her daughters after strong female role models.

Although Raised by Wolves purports to be set in the present day, a fact we are aware of early on when the girl's Grampy (Philip Jackson) is on a laptop, most of what we see in the show seems very old fashioned. The characters of Aretha and Germaine especially don't feel part of the 21st century as the clothing they wear makes them seem like they belong in the late 1980s or early 1990s. This is probably because the Moran sisters have styled the characters to look exactly how they did in their formative years.

This odd mix of old style with modern setting meant I could never fully relax into Raised by Wolves; which is a shame as it did have some highlights.

The best thing about Raised by Wolves was definitely Staton's strong comic turn as the brilliant Della who I absolutely loved from the first time she appeared on screen. Jackson also proved to be a skilled comic presence whose scenes as the horny grandfather brilliantly broke up the action. However I personally wasn't impressed by the performances given by the younger actresses which may be partially due to the fact that their characters never really struck a chord with me.

Maybe I'm judging Raised by Wolves too soon and I'll definitely keep watching to see if there's any improvement in the forthcoming weeks. However, as I've often been a fan of Moran's writing, I expected more from a comedy that wasn't nearly as funny as it thought it was.

The day I met Caitlin Moran

I squealed in Morrisons when the confirmation came through I'd be interviewing Caitlin Moran on my radio show.

The Caitlin and Caz Moran-written sitcom inspired by their council estate upbringing continues. A girls-only shopping trip to secure new knickers deposits young Wyatt into Grampy's unorthodox daycare regime of dodgy wheeler-dealing and Sheryl Crow singalongs. That allows mum Della (the brilliant Rebekah Staton) to steer her four daffy daughters through the capitalist temptations of the town centre with her customary brusqueness. But is there a reason she's being even more wrathful than usual?

Radio Times review

Germaine needs new pants, Yoko needs a new bra and young Wyatt (the only boy in the house) needs some male bonding with Grampy.

Caitlin and Caroline Moran's rollicking comedy gathers pace with a girls shopping trip that generates more assured quick-fire wit and knowing literary-minded gab in Wolves clothing.

The performances (especially from Rebekah Staton's mum) remain spot on. And while it sometimes feels as if the writing is a little pleased with itself, there's no doubting the Moran sisters' ability to create their own joyously eccentric comedy world.

Raised by Wolves episode 1 review: 'Hand Jam'

This first episode of Channel 4's Raised by Wolves is a triumphantly confident opening to a series.

Raised By Wolves: Smug, self-important, clichéd...

Raised By Wolves doesn't tell us much about Caitlin and Caz's real childhood. Instead, it clamps a pair of rose-tinted specs to our eyes and says, 'Look at that -- that's us as kids. Amazing, weren't we!'

A good week for Channel 4, actually. Caitlin Moran, who will soon surely be so well known she can go about being known by just her first name (just so's you know, the opening syllable is "Cat", as in "cat", not "Kate", for befuddling but I seem to remember nice reasons), has again given us something good, in addition to journalism and her runaway bestseller, How to Be a Woman, in the shape of a highly moreish comedy.

Raised By Wolves, essentially the story of her own Wolverhampton childhood and co-written with her sister Caz, aims to celebrate that relentlessly ignored televisual beast, the witty and bright working class. It won't be to absolutely everyone's taste - bigots who like to lump the poor under the adjective "feckless", thickos who like their humour less subtle, that distinct super-breed of men who still think lady-periods unmentionable - but it was very sweet, will get even funnier, and is crackling with talent to celebrate, in young Helen Monks and Alexa Davies and this opener's standout star, Pulling's Rebekah Staton. I worry only that the trend, in both broadcasting and newspapers, is increasingly biased these happy days against female writers who are a) terrifyingly bright and funny, and b) technically below the salt, in terms of privileged ability to fund themselves through three-year internships for sod-all pay. Thank goodness historically, then, for Caitlin, for Julie Burchill, for our own Barbara Ellen, but shall we see many of their likes again?