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Amandaland

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Amandaland

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Summary

Comedy spin-off of Motherland starring Lucy Punch and Joanna Lumley. Following her divorce, Amanda finds herself parenting teenagers in new surroundings when she moves from Chiswick to South Harlesden and rekindling old friendships

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Christmas Special 2025

Summary

The family heads to Aunt Joan's country house for Christmas, but things fall apart when Mal and Anne tag along and Amanda struggles to recreate the magic from her youth. Anne is in despair at being separated from her family and Felicity is increasingly irritated by her sister's high spirits, while Mal finds a hidden photo that appears to reveal a deep family secret. Jennifer Saunders guest stars in a festive episode of the Motherland spin-off, starring Lucy Punch, Joanna Lumley and Philippa Dunne

Review

Frances Taylor

Well, isn’t this Absolutely Fabulous? Joanna Lumley and Jennifer Saunders back on TV together for Christmas Day. In an inspired piece of casting, Saunders is guest-starring in Amandaland’s first festive foray as Aunt Joan — the rambunctious sister of Felicity (Lumley) who thinks nothing of saying “drinky-poos” and “luncheon” unironically. Suffice to say, the siblings don’t entirely get on.

Amanda (Lucy Punch) is undeterred (isn’t she always?) by her mum’s reticence about spending the big day with her sibling. Instead, she ploughs on with her plan for the perfect family Christmas, including recreating a childhood memory and protecting her pavlova at all costs. But when she sees some old photos from the 1970s that Felicity has been desperate to hide, Amanda might be about to discover you can’t always get what you want.

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There are no live broadcasts scheduled for this show. But it is available via the streaming provider below.

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Cast

rolenameAmandaLucy PunchAnnePhilippa DunneFelicityJoanna LumleyMalSamuel AndersonAunt JoanJennifer SaundersGeorgieMiley LockeManusAlexander Shaw

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Crew

rolenameWriterLaurence RickardProducerArnold WiddowsonDirectorDavid SantExecutive producerSharon HorganExecutive producerFaye DornExecutive producerHelen Serafinowicz

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Review

Frances Taylor

If Motherland fans had a vote on which of the beloved sitcom’s characters would get their own spin-off, Amanda may not have been everyone’s first choice. However, writer Holly Walsh has said that of all the characters, there was “something unresolved” about Amanda’s story and the decision to shine the spotlight on the hoity toity horror is spot-on.

In the wake of her divorce, Amanda (Lucy Punch) has upended her life. The kids have changed schools and she’s had to downsize to South Harlesden. Or “SoHa”, as she insists it’s called. There are still some familiar faces; Philippa Dunne returns as eager Anne and the sublime Joanna Lumley again steals every scene as mum Felicity.

But new schoolgates mean Amanda must get the measure of a new social strata and she quickly latches on to Della (Siobhan McSweeney) and Fi (Rochenda Sandall). Whether they like it or not…

How to watch

Next showing

There are no live broadcasts scheduled for this show. But it is available via the streaming providers below.

Streaming

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