Up the Women: Dad's Army of the suffragette movement?

Strong characters, dialogue peppered with frequent little joys of unforeseen silliness and some of the funniest females in the country - what's not to like?

Suffragettes were winners, & that's not great comedy

It's a tricky thing period comedy - despite the übermensch of the genre, Blackadder, proving indefatigable - there aren't many others you'd seek out in the nether-regions of the EPG (Dad's Army of course; Maid Marian and Her Merry Men). It might not have the laughs of any of them, but with that cast (Hynes! Front! Pepperdine!), it's worth the journey back in time.

Up the Women review

Overall the offers some some good fun, with silly characters that all bounce off each other well. Jessica Hynes has done a fine job of satirising such a serious part of history, and it offers a nice change from the mob of chat show and stand-up based comedy of recent BBC times.

A return for Jessica Hynes's 1910-set suffragette comedy. The Banbury craft circle is purportedly on hunger strike in solidarity with their feminist sisters, though Gwen's overflowing cheese basket is proving too tempting for them all. For young Emily, there is the possibility of a betrothal to hunky Bertie Smuth, heir to a spoon-manufacturing dynasty - much to the dismay of her weak-wristed would-be lover, Thomas. The gag rate is excellent, with some stellar jokes along the way.

Radio Times review

I suppose this suffragette sitcom should be described as "gentle", meaning "it's not very funny but watching it won't kill you". It started life on BBC Four back in 2013 and now comes to BBC Two, where it remains a solid, old-fashioned, one-set, studio-bound comedy centred upon the 1910 Banbury Intricate Craft Circle Politely Request Women's Suffrage group.

Their well-meaning leader Margaret (Jessica Hynes, also co-writer) urges her little band of friends to go on hunger strike in sympathy with their imprisoned sisters. But Margaret becomes obsessed by the very thought of "buns", while Gwen (Vicki Pepperdine, unrecognisable with a set of rabbity teeth) brings industrial quantities of cheese to the village hall.

Jessica Hynes on her suffragette comedy

I wanted Up The Women to feel like a classic sitcom, almost as if it had always been here.

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Margaret (Jessica Hynes) sends Emmeline Pankhurst a "comical" poem, which prompts a visit from the suffragette leader, despite Pankhurst (Sandi Toksvig) concurring with Helen (Rebecca Front) that the poem is "not strictly speaking comical". Margaret claims that "it gets funnier", and Hynes here could almost be describing her own sitcom: this final episode is the best, with the group trying to impress their guest with a talent showcase, and Helen revealing the real reason behind her opposition to the cause.

This Suffragette comedy completes its short run. The fight for votes for women has only ever been a peg on which to hang an unthreatening, if rather well executed, 2D sitcom staffed with charming bumblers. It feels as if it's really about Suffragettes much less than, say, the stylistically similar Dad's Army was subtly and profoundly about the Second World War.

Not that "this isn't as good as Dad's Army" is any sort of criticism, but the rousing finale is flat and unearned after just three episodes. Before that, though, there's an injection of brio from Sandi Toksvig, delivering a riotous turn as Emmeline Pankhurst herself.

Modern feminists can learn a lot from Up The Women

Many of the questions faced by the women's movement today are played out in Jessica Hynes' new show. In a world where feminism still viewed by many women with distrust, wariness and even alarm, there's a lot we can learn from the ladies of the Banbury Intricate Craft Circle Frankly Demands Women's Suffrage.