Amandaland creator reveals real-life inspiration for school-gates sitcom

Nicky Morris
·2-min read
Two women standing in a kitchen
Amanda (LUCY PUNCH), Felicity (JOANNA LUMLEY) in Amandaland (BBC/Merman/Natalie Seery)

Amandaland co-creator Holly Walsh has revealed the inspiration behind stories featured in the BBC spin-off series and its flagship school-gates sitcom, Motherland. 

At the show's launch, Holly told HELLO! and other press that she and fellow Motherland co-creators and writers, Sharon Horgan and Helen Serafinowicz, were inspired by their own experiences as mums and as teenagers when penning the original show.

When asked where she gets her ideas from, Holly, who co-wrote Amandaland with Helen, Barunka O'Shaughnessy and Laurence Rickard, revealed: "I sit in cafes and listen in on other people's conversations and write it down word for word."

"So if you're in a cafe and I'm anywhere near you, don't say anything loud because I will write it down and use it," she joked. "Also, we're lucky because Helen has loads of awful stuff happened to her, I have the most awful stuff happen to me, Sharon's a walking car crash, and we just use it," said the 44-year-old.

Amandaland: Anne (PHILIPPA DUNNE), Amanda (LUCY PUNCH), Felicity (JOANNA LUMLEY)
Amandaland comes to BBC One and iPlayer on February 5 (BBC/Merman)

"Every bad thing that happens, we come in and go, 'You're not going to believe this' and tell the story. And then between us, we've got enough."

You may also like

Holly continued: "We talked about our teenage years a lot, which was really interesting. What's interesting about teenagers is no one breaks the mould. They're just awful. Every generation of teenagers are just as bad, so we just talked a lot about our crazy teenage antics and wrote a lot of them down."

Are you a fan of Motherland?
Amandaland is a spin-off of the hit BBC sitcom, Motherland

For those who don't know, Amandaland follows the life of posh, snobbish mum Amanda (played by Lucy Punch), who has had to downsize from Chiswick to South Harlesden (or SoHa) following her divorce.

"With both Manus and Georgie now at secondary school, Amanda has to try and get her head around raising teenagers, dealing with modern motherhood horrors like teenage drinking, fake Instagram accounts and eco-anxiety," reads the synopsis. "Not even a woman as certain of her parenting as Amanda can deal with these nightmares alone."

Three people standing on football field
Philippa Dunne reprises her role as Anne, alongside new cast members Samuel Anderson and Ekow Quartey (BBC/Merman/Natalie Seery)

Joanna Lumley reprises her role as Amanda's mum Felicity, alongside Philippa Dunne as Amanda's long-suffering friend, Anne.

Also starring in the show are Samuel Anderson (Gavin & Stacey) as Mal, Siobhan McSweeney (Derry Girls) as Della, Rochenda Sandall (Line of Duty) as Fi, Ekow Quartey (Trying) as JJ and Peter Serafinowicz (The Gentlemen) as Johannes.

Amandaland airs on BBC One and iPlayer on Wednesday 5 February at 9pm. 

Latest stories