Television series

Motherland

Name: Motherland
Genre: Comedy
Released: 2016
Cast: Anna Maxwell Martin, Lucy Punch, Diane Morgan, Philippa Dunne, Paul Ready

Other titles called Motherland: the 2017 film.

Comedy

Motherland is a sharp, cruel-funny sitcom about the school-gate battlefield of modern motherhood—less about cooing over babies and more about WhatsApp warfare, playground hierarchies, and the exhausted rage beneath a nice cup of tea. Anna Maxwell Martin's Julia navigates a pack of mums who are by turns terrifying, pathetic, and heartbreakingly familiar. It's for anyone who's ever nodded along to "we're so lucky" while dying inside.

TVMaze rating

3.6

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you enjoy sharp, mortifying comedy about exhausted parents who are too proud to admit they are struggling, and you laugh hardest when the cringe lands close to home.

Skip it if you want warm, gentle family viewing, since its humour is biting, the characters are often unlikeable, and the jokes rarely let anyone off the hook.

What it asks of you: Half-hour episodes, seventeen across three seasons, with a quick rhythm of awkward set-pieces that rewards paying attention to who is sniping at whom.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Catastrophe2015

Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney's marriage-and-parenting comedy has the same unsentimental honesty about how exhausting and unglamorous new family life actually is, delivered with real bite and warmth.

But It's more about the couple than the mum-friend ecosystem, so the school-gate politics angle is largely absent.

Derry Girls2018

Same rapid-fire, character-driven ensemble comedy energy, with a gang of women (well, girls) whose bickering, alliances and petty grudges feel just as viciously true to life.

But It's teenagers in 1990s Northern Ireland, not exhausted parents, so the specific motherhood satire isn't there.

Outnumbered2007

The original British chaos-of-parenting sitcom, built on brilliantly unscripted-feeling kids and parents barely holding it together, with the same wry acceptance that nobody actually has this figured out.

But Gentler and warmer than Motherland's sharper claws — less social warfare, more domestic survival.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Motherland

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Tully2018

Same subject — the identity-erasure of motherhood and the performance of coping — but played completely straight, showing the version of Julia's exhaustion that isn't played for laughs.

Charlize Theron plays a mother drowning under a newborn and two other kids, and the film goes to a much stranger, sadder place than any sitcom about parenting would dare.

But It's a genuine drama with a gut-punch turn, not a laugh-a-minute watch — bring tissues, not tea.

Friday Night Dinner2011

Another British family comedy that finds huge laughs in small, recurring rituals and the absurd tyranny of "normal" family life, with a similarly deadpan sense of the ridiculous.

But It's siblings-and-parents farce rather than mum-tribe politics, so the specific target is quite different.

Breeders2020

Martin Freeman and Daisy Haggard go further into the rage and guilt of parenting than almost anything else on TV, with jokes that land precisely because the exhaustion feels real.

But Considerably darker and angrier in tone — less broad comedy, more howl into the void.

Trying2020

A gentler, more earnest look at the desperation to become parents and then survive being one, with the same eye for the absurd bureaucracy and performance of modern family life.

But Softer and more sentimental than Motherland's satire — fewer teeth, considerably more hugs.

The Letdown2017

This Australian comedy nails the specific horror of new motherhood — the mothers' group, the unsolicited advice, the sleep deprivation — with the same eye for social cruelty dressed up as support.

But Only two short seasons, and its newborn-specific focus narrows its scope compared to Motherland's wider cast.

Workin' Moms2017

A Canadian sitcom that skewers the guilt and competitive parenting of the return-to-work mum with similar unsentimental swagger and a large, bitchy-funny ensemble.

But Runs for many more seasons and leans further into soapy melodrama as it goes on.

Amandaland2025

The spin-off follows Motherland's own Amanda into a new postcode of yummy-mummy status anxiety, so if you loved that character specifically, here's more of exactly that voice.

But It's a direct spin-off, so it will feel far too familiar rather than a fresh discovery.

Bluey2018

Motherland's parents are Bluey's parents twenty years and several breakdowns later — the same weary, loving realism about parenting, filtered through a completely different, gentler medium.

An Australian preschool cartoon that, watched as an adult, turns out to be one of the most honest portraits of parental exhaustion, guilt and love on television, seven minutes at a time.

But It's ostensibly a children's show about a cartoon dog family, which is a big ask if you want proper adult comedy.

The Stepford Wives1975

Both are about women terrified of disappearing into the "good mother/wife" role society hands them; Stepford just takes that fear literally and turns it into a nightmare.

A chilling satirical thriller about suburban wives being remade into perfect, smiling homemakers — the same fear of being flattened into a role that Motherland mines for comedy, played here as outright horror.

But Slow 1970s pacing and a genuinely disturbing premise mean this is not a comfort watch.