The eagerly-anticipated second series of Motherland spin-off Amandaland has hit screens - to deafening applause from critics.
The Lucy Punch-fronted comedy has been branded 'a triumph', 'defiantly daft' and 'the BBC's best sitcom by a mile' in a slew of four and five star reviews.
Amandaland follows the demise of Motherland's snooty Queen Bee, who has moved from a lavish life in well-to-do Chiswick to becoming a single mother in the less-than-desirable South Harlesden - which she christens 'SoHa'.
Lucy played the character in all three seasons of the original show before bringing the character back to life in January last year followed by a Christmas special, all of which won enormous praise for the thigh-slapping antics of the character.
Following Thursday's return, critics swarmed to praise the show as the Daily Mail and the Telegraph gave it five stars, saying: 'This show is bursting with invention, so full of possibilities that it crams three or four sources of fun into half an hour.'
The eagerly-anticipated second series of Motherland spin-off Amandaland has hit screens - to deafening applause from critics
Lucy's performance was lavished with praise although her mother Felicity, played by Joanna Lumley, and Philippa Dunne, who stars as downtrodden Anne, were deemed 'magnetic' and 'sterling' as her supporting characters.
Series two sees attention-hungry Amanda has found her metier as an online influencer. It doesn't matter that, since she doesn't have any followers, she's not actually influencing anyone. She has a lifestyle brand and 'it's all she needs'.
Reviewers have likened the character to comedy icons The Office's David Brent and Steve Coogan's legendary Alan Partridge in their cringeworthy lack of self-awareness, arrogance and poorly-hidden deep insecurities.
On the subject, The Guardian's Rachel Aroesti writes: 'Amanda slots neatly into a lineage of British comedy icons; file her next to the delusional, narcissistic, indefatigable likes of Alan Partridge and David Brent.'
The Independent's Katie Rosseinsky joined in the praise, with four stars: 'It’s relatively straightforward comic fodder, but the jokes are sharp and sometimes unexpectedly dark enough to puncture the cosiness (“Have you been DBS checked?” Amanda’s colleague at her “co-lab” asks her, before she promptly spits back: “Women can’t be paedophiles, Daniel!”).
'And Punch, with her huge smile and doe eyes, manages to make even Amanda’s absurdities and insecurities endearing.'
Huw Fullerton for Radio Times writes: 'That aside, this second series is a comedy triumph; a winning confluence of characters, plotting and gag-writing that makes a sitcom worth returning to...
The Lucy Punch-fronted comedy has been branded 'a triumph', 'defiantly daft' and 'the BBC's best sitcom by a mile' in a slew of four and five star reviews
AMANDALAND: The Reviews
RADIO TIMES
Rating:
FOUR STARS
Every episode is stuffed with memorable one-liners ('she came, she saw, she gentrified') and clever payoffs, with great performances in particular from Punch, Lumley and Philippa Dunne as Amanda’s best pal Anne, who grows a bit of a backbone this series after years of being her punching bag.
INDEPENDENT
Rating:
FOUR STARS
The real housewife of SoHa is back. After proving that she could stand on her own two Kurt Geiger-clad feet as the centre of a Motherland spin-off, Lucy Punch’s immaculately coiffed, endearingly self-centered mum-slash-influencer Amanda has returned for a well-deserved second season.
METRO
Rating:
THREE STARS
Elsewhere, the season fell foul to more forced gags and clunky joke-making than I would have liked, making for an awkward feel for a few of the scenes, especially early on. The season does seem to hit a stride as it goes along, however, with later episodes working better.
THE GUARDIAN
Rating:
FOUR STARS
Lucy Punch is brilliant as this comedy’s delusional, narcississtic lead and Joanna Lumley is magnetic as her mum. It’s not as delectably spiky as Motherland, but the comforting vibes are what make it worth watching.
THE TIMES
Rating:
THREE STARS
It’s still very sharply written and cleverly observed, and Punch is brilliant in the role — the head mic and TED talk-style jog onto the stage were perfect, as was Amanda talking up her 'Hong Kong Shanghai' financing (she got a three-grand loan from HSBC). Joanna Lumley remains absolutely fabulous as her mother. But we’ve been here before.
THE STANDARD
Rating:
FOUR STARS
This is a show that manages hypocrisy and delusions with a sweet touch that makes it a warm, impeccably turned-out joy .
FINANCIAL TIMES
Rating:
FOUR STARS
Amandaland is best watched with a forgiving eye. Think about it too hard, and you’ll notice that the vast majority of its jokes centre on millennials and boomers misunderstanding the internet, flubbing modern acronyms and being perplexed by what the younger generation is talking about. Still, with its strong cast (Joanna Lumley remains on fine form as Amanda’s acidic mother) and its deceptively sweet mood, it already feels like a long-familiar comedy that is extremely comfortable in its own skin.
DAILY MAIL
Rating:
FIVE STARS
As Amandaland returned for a second series, anything less than comic excellence was bound to be a disappointment. We needn't have worried. This show is bursting with invention, so full of possibilities that it crams three or four sources of fun into half an hour and plunders all of them gleefully.
THE TELEGRAPH
Rating:
FIVE STARS
'So you post a picture of yourself eating cake and that’s a job?' asked a baffled Joanna Lumley in the new series of Amandaland (BBC One), neatly summing up the absurdity of being a social media influencer. Luckily for us, it’s a job with endless comic potential, and this second series overflows with jokes about Amanda (Lucy Punch) trying and failing to become a luxury content creator. It remains the BBC’s best sitcom by a country mile.
'Whether you see yourself in Amanda, her friends, her mum or her kids – or none of them at all – it’s the kind of slick, relatable "content" that Amanda’s feed could only dream of hosting.'
The Financial Times' Rebecca Nicholson said the show 'continued to delight': 'Amandaland is best watched with a forgiving eye...
'Think about it too hard, and you’ll notice that the vast majority of its jokes centre on millennials and boomers misunderstanding the internet, flubbing modern acronyms and being perplexed by what the younger generation is talking about...
'Still, with its strong cast (Joanna Lumley remains on fine form as Amanda’s acidic mother) and its deceptively sweet mood, it already feels like a long-familiar comedy that is extremely comfortable in its own skin.'
One of the only negative reviews of the show came with a three star rating from Asyia Iftikhar at Metro, who mused: 'The season fell foul to more forced gags and clunky joke-making than I would have liked...
'[This made for] for an awkward feel for a few of the scenes, especially early on. The season does seem to hit a stride as it goes along.'