Motherland is a British television series from the BBC, a Cringe Comedy sitcom navigating the competitive world of parenthood. The first series debuted on BBC One in 2016.
Julia (Anna Maxwell Martin) is an ambitious, stressed-out middle-class mother of young children at a well-to-do London school, whose troubles start piling up when her mother Marion decides she no longer wants to be involved in childcare. She finds herself bonding with devil-may-care Liz (Diane Morgan) and spineless stay-at-home dad Kevin (Paul Ready), and deals with her arch rival, the bitchy alpha-mum Amanda (Lucy Punch) and her sidekick, Anne (Philippa Dunne).
The series was originally created for American television by Sharon Horgan, but was then reworked into a British series by Horgan and Graham Linehan. Linehan also directed the British pilot and co-wrote the first season.
The show as a whole is co-written by Horgan, Helen Serafinowicz and Holly Walsh, with Barunka O'Shaughnessy replacing Linehan on the writing team after season one. Horgan is not credited as a writer for season three, but returned for the 2022 Christmas special.
There have been three seasons of Motherland and two Christmas specials, as well as the original pilot. In February 2025, a spin-off called Amandaland was released, focusing on Amanda and Anne.
Tropes include:
- Abusive Parent: Felicity, Amanda's mother, is emotionally distant with her daughter. She makes jokes about her daughters insecurities, encourages her to get on dating apps to find a new husband thinking Amanda can't be happy being single, uses her daughter's ex-husband and his new wife Tamara (who actually tries to get along with Amanda) to annoy Amanda and purposefully uses the fact that Tamara is pregnant to devastate Amanda. It's implied the reason Amanda is so bitchy is because it's the only way she knows, due to having a shallow and snobby mother. This culminates in Amanda cutting her off in the finale, although by the time of spin-off Amandaland (2 years later), they're on better terms.
- The Ace: Meg, in comparison to the other mothers. She's an accomplished business woman who speaks several languages and manages to make her daughter's sports day despite being on a business trip in Germany at the time. Slides into Broken Ace when you learn that she goes on alcohol binges to cope with the pressure and she also had an affair with Bill thay lead to him divorcing his first wife, something Meg still feels guilty about.
- Ambiguously Bi: When Amanda auctioned to kiss the highest bidder at the fundraiser, Liz won by paying only 50 pence. She did it because she was annoyed as Amanda cleaned anything Liz touched which she had to have contact with, including her sons hands, as well as her being drunk. Although this was the main reason, it's quite possible there was more to it.
- When Meg shows Kevin a leather jacket to the Trio, Kevin's reaction is that when he thinks of Bill he pictures him "in leather". He also seems a little obsessed with James in "The Pool Party".
- Alone Among the Couples: Throughout Series 1 and the first half of Series 2, Liz is the only person who is not in a committed relationship. Even for the last episodes of Series 2, it's notable that she and Sam are more casual. But this gets subverted in Season 2 when Amanda gets divorced and in Season 3 when Jill leaves Kevin.
- Alpha Bitch:
- Amanda, though she slides more into a Lovable Alpha Bitch as the show goes on.
- Caroline Lacey is perhaps even worse, as she dominates even Amanda, has others do her work, tries to get the audience to pay for a new musical instrument to give to her son and doesn't even remember her old friend Julia's name.
- Anne briefly becomes this after Amanda and Johnny's threesome is discovered. When Amanda takes her role as the Queen Bee back, Anne wisely goes back to being Second-In-Command.
- Amicable Exes: Parodied. Amanda keeps insisting she and Johnny are this, which largely involves him doing whatever he wants and her pretending to be fine with it. She's in great denial about this.
- Aww Look They Really Do Love Each Other: Julia and Paul are a married couple but never share a scene together until the penultimate episode, only communicating over the phone and often arguing. However, when they finally share a scene in person they show themselves to be an understanding couple who truly love each other and accept each other's faults.
- Beta Bitch: Julia was this to Caroline briefly before she realises her old friend doesn't even remember her name.
- Anne, though she's not really bitchy so much as she just does whatever Amanda asks her to.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Julia complains for the entire season 3 about having her mother living with her and mentions several times that she can't wait for her mother to leave and have the house to herself again. She gets what she wants in the worst way possible, as Marion dies in the final episode.
- Breakout Character: Amanda was popular enough to get her own spin-off.
- Break the Haughty:
- Meg's cancer diagnosis really brings her down and she becomes somewhat more reflective and humble when confronted with her own mortality.
- Amandaland largely focuses on Amanda's struggle to balance her posh sensibilities with a new lack of income post-divorce, moving to a smaller house in a different neighborhood and getting a new job (although she considers it a 'collab') working at a kitchen showroom.
- Britain Is Only London: The series is set in South London and it's all we see.
- Broken Bird: All of the main cast are this to some degree. Julia is unappreciated by her children and her husband, and describes herself as having "cripplingly low self-esteem". Kevin is constantly emotionally abused by his wife Jill and his mother died whilst he was still a child. Liz is heartbroken when her ex husband has a baby with his new girlfriend and drinks to cope with her problems. Amanda's "perfect" life is clearly a facade to cover up her lack of self-worth, her grief with her divorce and her unstable relationship with her mother. Meg is diagnosed with breast cancer and struggles with her ambitious lifestyle, and Anne is constantly put down by Amanda and used by her, as well as having a tough relationship with her own husband.
- Casting Gag: Amandaland's Christmas special reunites Joanna Lumley (Felicity) with her costar from Absolutely Fabulous, Jennifer Saunders (Felicity's sister Joan). Saunders and Lumley had not acted together since the series' movie and Lumley personally encouraged Saunders to take the role.
- Children Are Innocent: During the final Christmas episode, when Marion dies the first concern of the adults is how to get the kids out of the house before they find out.
- Christmas Episode:
- The first episode of Series 3 is focused on everyone having a Christmas Party.
- "Last Christmas" focuses on everyone having a blended Christmas, which goes well until Marion passes away.
- Amandaland has one of its own, focusing on Amanda's family (plus Mal and Anne) going to her aunt Joan's house to recreate her old Christmas memories.
- Class Trip: The fourth episode of Series 3 takes place at one.
- The Cobbler's Children Have No Shoes: Everyone adores Marion and she's on friendly terms with everyone at her grandchildren's school as a former School Governor. The only exception is her daughter Julia, who is bitter and resents Marion for refusing to help her with childcare anymore.
- Cringe Comedy: Constantly. Notable examples include the auction going off the rails.
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Crowning Moment of Awesome: There's quite a few, several of which include Meg getting the all clear for her cancer, Kevin passing his driving test and divorcing Jill, Liz finally finding a man who genuinely cares about her, and Amanda standing up for herself against her mother Felicity in the Christmas special. - Dirty Old Woman: Amanda's mother, Felicity, seems to like younger men, is very vain, is an emotionally Abusive Parent to Amanda, smokes cigarettes outside the house of her former son-in-law, Johnny, and uses Johnny's second wife Tamara to upset her daughter.
- Downer Ending: The second Christmas special and final episode of the entire show has Marion passing away suddenly and unexpectedly. It's a very sobering end to a series that is so full of laughs and ridiculousness.
- Drama Queen: Julia often deals with stress by screaming or going into long-winded rants. In "The Cavalry" she's so on edge dealing with Paul's parents that she spends much of the episode hyperventilating.
- Ends with a Smile: The final shot of the first Christmas special is of Julia's children waking her up screaming that Santa has been. Julia, who usually sports a forced Unsmile, beams with genuine delight at hearing her children so happy.
- Fluffy the Terrible: Non monster example with the stern, tough, no-nonsense Ms. Lamb. Meg describes her as a general in a fuzzy jumper.
- Foil: Meg is this to Amanda in that whilst Meg is very financially successful, has worked many ambitious careers, went to private school, and has a very happy relationship with her husband, she willingly hangs out with the outcasts of Julie, Kevin and Liz instead of joining the "Stepford Wives", though she frequently makes an idiot out of herself when she drinks whereas Amanda is polished and obsessed with her image despite her marriage crumbling. Also while Amanda's husband leaves her for another woman, Meg was the other woman before her husband Bill left his ex-wife for Meg.
- Forceful Kiss: Liz gives one to Amanda when she realizes Amanda is cleaning her hands whenever she touches anything of hers.
- The Ghost:
- Kevin's horrible wife Jill never appears.
- Julia has a sister, Emily, but she is never seen, even during the Christmas specials.
- Good Parents: Amanda has a rocky relationship with her own mother but she's shown to be a supportive mother to her own children and does her best to shield them as much as possible during her divorce from Johnny.
- Hide Your Children: The children intentionally only appear in very fleeting short bursts.
- Hypocrite: Julia and co are outraged when Amanda kicks them out of her Christmas Party early, despite the fact they went into her daughter's room without asking, got blood all over the carpet and messed up her decorations.
- Huge Schoolgirl: Ivy, Julia's daughter, is only nine at the start of the show but by season three she's almost the same height as her mother and she hasn't even started puberty yet.
- I Have Boobs, You Must Obey!: Subverted. A very drunk Meg tries to get out of paying a bus far by lifting up her top and flashing the driver. He is not impressed and refuses to drive the bus until Meg gets off.Meg: Cheer up, man, it may never happen! [laughs maniacally]
- Innocently Insensitive:
- Rose, Amanda's assistant, constantly does this by obliviously reminding Amanda of her age by not understanding Amanda's references or not requiring any beauty treatments Amanda is slavishly devoted to.
- Anne manages to piss off Amanda by going on a tangent about how much happier Johnny looks now he and Amanda have divorced, with Amanda making Anne fetch her another coffee to shut her up.
- Insistent Terminology: Amanda would have you know she is not a single mother, she is a co-parent.
- It's All About Me: Julia is a very self-serving person and a lot of her actions are driven by her wanting something and relentlessly pulling all kinds of schemes to get it. Amanda and Liz both call her out on it.
- Jerkass: Johnny, Amanda's husband, who spends most of his screen time yelling at someone (usually Amanda) and refuses to let her keep the house despite all the unhappiness he's causing her.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Paul, Julia's husband, is constantly away and not very helpful in general, but he has a point when he asks why Julia is suddenly throwing a party for Ivy when it's not actually her birthday, especially since Julia only decided to have the party because she wanted to use it to score points with the other mums.
- Lice Episode: The plot of "Nit Blitz" focuses on a nit pandemic sweeping the school. Seeing as the episode aired around the COVID-19 Pandemic, the episode also spoofs some of the reactions around it, including a second wave of nits and announcements similar to that of Boris Johnson's.
- Lovable Alpha Bitch: Amanda might resist but she'll ultimately do the right thing, and despite her dislike of Julia's group does include them in her events. Taken up to eleven in the finale where she instantly comforts Julia after her mother's death.
- Mama Bear: In the fourth episode of Series 3, Meg's daughter Jade was racially abused by a classmate named Danny who was originally banned from the school trip as a result. On the day of the trip, he and his obnoxious mother were let on the trip, angering Meg, and whilst she disapproves of Liz taking action and confronting the mother, she criticises Mrs Lamb for not enforcing effective safeguarding for her daughter. According to Julia, Danny also pulled her daughter Ivy's shorts down in PE, and when she was called in, she admitted fantasising about getting up to his face.
- Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: Liz and Kevin with Liz being a snarky, no-nonsense woman and Kevin being a sensitive, extremely effeminate man.
- Mistaken for Pedophile: Kevin has a habit of unintentionally making himself sound like one, like asking Ivy if she'd "like to have a peep on his carrot flute" (Liz even tells him not to say that again) or asking his colleagues at his new jobs if they know where his "kiddie pics" have gone and he'll "be in a lot of trouble" if they aren't found. (He was using the photos to recreate a charity tea towel).
- Malicious Misnaming:
- Because she has a stepdaughter called Amanda, Meg repeatedly refers to Amanda as "Mandy" or "Mands" despite Amanda repeatedly making it clear she's not a fan.
- Liz continually refers to Debbie-Louise, Lee's new girlfriend, as "Dairylea Cheese" to annoy Lee, but once she actually meets her in person she realises she's just a young woman terrified of becoming a first-time mum and stops, as well as giving her some advice to dealing with Lee as a partner.
- Missing Child: In "The Purge", the group lose track of Amanda's son Manus on Halloween and start to gradually seriously panic when they can't find him. Fortunately he was at Kevin's the whole time and just got left behind because he was in the bathroom when everybody went out.
- Never My Fault: When Julia is caught out in one of her lies, rather than admit her guilt, she usually manages to blame it on the other person.
- Nice, Mean, and In-Between: Protagonist Julia is (unusually) "mean", Kevin is "nice", and Liz is "in-between".
- Nightmare Fuel Coloring Book: When Kevin is assigned to print all of the children's self-portraits into charity tea towels for a school fundraiser, he looks through them with Liz, finding them adorable. However, he is unsettled by the self-portrait of Manus, Amanda's son, which has a creepy stare. Liz remarks that Manus will start killing cats soon.
- No Guy Wants to Be Chased: In "The Purge", much to the consternation of Julia and Anne, who were both gushing Lee Mead for the whole episode, the only person he shows any interest in is Liz, who has recently sworn off dating and rejects him when he asks her out.
- Not So Above It All: Liz likes to think of herself as more down-to-earth and less fussy and uncool than the other mums, but even she gets freaked out when the night gets increasingly more wild during "The Purge."
- Pair the Spares: Of a sort, when Kevin and Amanda are both single, they have a brief 'affair', though Amanda is clearly ashamed of it and tries to distance herself from Kevin as much as possible.
- Proud Beauty: Amanda is very proud of her status as the Statuesque Stunner and she wears short dresses to show off her legs.
- Rage Breaking Point: Kevin in "Le Weekend" after the others keep asking him to do things for them at the Air B&B, Julia forgetting to bring the wine, Meg showing up late and Kevin failing to cook the pig properly, he goes on a rampage and throws the pig into the living room. This causes Anne to start having a panic attack and they have to drive her to hospital.
- "Reason You Suck" Speech: Liz gives one to Julia towards the end of series 1, calling her out for her two-faced nature and her disinterest in helping anyone other than herself. Meg gives Mrs Lamb one in series 3 regarding the lack of safeguarding action from the school when another child is racist to her daughter. Lastly, Anne gives a great one to Amanda in series 3 after her lack of gratitude at her surprise birthday party.
- Running Gag: Julia's husband is almost always never seen onscreen with her. Every time she calls him, he's off doing activities, such as sailing or go-karting rather than being an available parent.
- Sex at Work: Amanda and Kevin have sex (twice) on the floor of her hipster store. Downplayed, though, in that she's actually in the process of closing it down when they do it.
- Slippery Swimsuit: Anne's swimsuit begins to slip down in the pool, revealing one of her breasts.
- Stealth Insult: Paul's mother Elizabeth comments she and Jeff have noticed how hard Julia has been finding things "now your mother has stopped doing everything for you."
- The Dog Bites Back: After the debacle over Amanda's surprise party, which she stated she didn't want, then was offended when nothing happened, Anne finally snaps at her for making her do all the catering before marching off (and sharing the secret that Amanda and Kevin had sex.)
- The Friends Who Never Hang: Julia has this dynamic with her husband Paul, never sharing a scene together in-person until the penultimate episode.
- The One Guy: Kevin is the only man in the cast full of women.
- The Smurfette Principle: Kevin is the only male amongst a group of women.
- Stalker with a Crush: Kevin comes off like this towards Amanda, he's obsessed with getting her approval to validate him being a stay-at-home dad, loudly yells her name when she sees him at the counsellors despite Amanda obviously not wanting to talk to him and making unintentionally creepy comments about always wanting to have a look inside her house. This culminates in Amanda and Kevin having sex when Amanda is at a low point (her husband leaving her for another woman, having to close her store, etc) and Kevin refuses to leave Amanda alone despite her making it clear it was just a one-time thing.
- The Topic of Cancer: Meg is diagnosed with early breast cancer in the "Nit Blitz, and reveals this to the other mums during Julia's nit blitz party after her husband Bill, shaken by the diagnosis, angrily chews out the other mothers for their flaws during the episode. This carries on as a Story Arc throughout the third series. She tearfully reveals to Julia (who heartwarmingly comforts her) in "Mother's Day" that she tries to rise above it, using her image as the vivacious supermum to deflect from her anxieties about her cancer in case this Mother's Day is going to be her last one before she potentially dies. During the penultimate episode "School Trip", where she deals with the impending email of her test results and a row between Liz and another mother whose son was originally banned from the eponymous trip after he was racist towards her daughter Jade, she breaks down in tears of joy when she finds out that she gets the all clear.
- Token Black Friend: Meg, who isn't even in Series 1, and is the only black mother in a comedy set in South London.
- Vanity Is Feminine: Amanda is quite shallow, as well as also being unconventionally feminine. This also applies to Amanda's mother, Felicity.
- Wacky Parent, Serious Child: Kevin tearfully announces to his daughters that he won't be able to attend Sports Day, while dramatically hugging them and acting like it's a huge tragedy. His daughters are unphased and continue watching TV.