Motherland is a British sitcom set in Queen's Park, London [ 4 ] , which explores the trials of middle-class motherhood. When her mother abruptly decides to stop taking care of her children, working mother Julia Johnstone is forced to take a much more active role in their lives and education.
She becomes friends with working-class Liz and stay-at-home dad Kevin Brady, and finds herself interacting with the local mother group, including their shallow and acerbic leader, Amanda. Julia is constantly overwhelmed by aspects of parenthood, and receives no support from her perpetually-absent husband Paul.
Working at a PR firm at the start of the series, Julia eventually quits and starts her own PR business. The show was originally a pilot on the American network ABC. However, comedian and writer Sharon Horgan reworked the script when the pilot wasn't picked up for a full series and collaborated with Graham Linehan on turning it into a British sitcom instead.
Following its pilot on BBC, it was picked up for a full series in October In The Cavalry episode, the station in which Paul's parents arrived at and departed from was Teddington railway station. The hospital the parents visited in the last episode of the first series was Ealing Hospital , in Southall.
In the Christmas special, the opening scene at the market was filmed on Pitshanger Lane in Ealing, at the butchers Hook and Cleaver. The pilot was filmed in early and aired in September The first series was filmed from late June to early August and aired from November to December The second series from March to May and aired from October to November The third series from September to November and all episodes aired in May The Christmas special is the first episode of the third series but aired earlier in December The latest Christmas special was filmed in November and released in December The website's critical consensus reads " Motherland pulls no punches, creating an honest and hilarious portrayal of parenthood buoyed by brilliant performances from its seasoned cast - though for some viewers it may hit a little too close to home".
