Motherland review: Middle-class parenting comedy doesn’t get better than this

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Or, as he puts it: “As a stay-at-home-dad, I’m used to being treated like a turd in a swimming pool.” The ubiquitous Anna Maxwell Martin plays Julia, over-stressed and under-supported by hubby Paul, who organises a predictably boozy and disastrous home hygiene event for the mums and their kids – it turns into “an absolute nit show”. Julia, who cannot even make it up the stairs with fatigue, is even more painfully put upon when she receives the news about her elderly mother that every baby boomer dreads: “she can’t live independently”. It’s funnier than it sounds, and the Motherland team have a way of handling the worst of news in the best of humour, not least when powerhouse have-it-all mum Meg declares she’s got “a bit” of breast cancer, at which even Amanda looks genuinely concerned. As with any comedy involving Horgan, political correctness isn’t always strictly observed in the melee of zingers and put downs, and I was a bit doubtful about the line “it’s almost cool to be mental now” – but, like the mums themselves, they mostly get away with it.