MOTHER’S RUIN?
ANNA MAXWELL MARTIN AND TANYA MOODIE STAR IN THE RETURN OF THE FRAUGHT PARENTING SITCOM…
Back in series one of Motherland, we followed stressed working mum Julia (Anna Maxwell Martin) as she attempted to navigate the minefield of school-gate politics, and tried to keep up with the popular mums while also delivering the goods at her full-time job. The jury’s still out on how successful she was at any of that.
In series two, Julia’s starting to think that maybe she’s got the hang of this: that she can do the school run and be a star employee. Then she meets Meg (Tanya Moodie). Meg’s a high-flyer of international renown who still has time to drop the kids off at the gates and somehow never looks tired or stressed. Naturally, Julia finds her suspicious…
“I’m really happy that
Sharon [Horgan, the show’s co-creator] told me Meg is based on a real person, because I couldn’t fathom that somebody like that actually existed!” admits Tanya. “I’m about the farthest removed from Meg you can imagine, and I think that’s why, when I auditioned, I jumped in feet-first. I was thinking, ‘This person can’t possibly be real, so I’m going to go completely over the top,’ and clearly they thought, ‘That’s it!’”
Having landed the part, Tanya was also impressed with another bit of casting – Buffy star Anthony Head as Meg’s husband, Bill.
“When they cast him, I was like, ‘Sorry, who’s playing my husband? Ooh! Oh, you want me to kiss him?!’” she laughs.
Julia, along with parent pals Liz and Kevin, takes Meg up on an offer to get to know her better in this week’s opening episode, and while she’s won over by Meg’s approach to… well, everything, she discovers a very different side to her.
Meanwhile, Julia’s own life is about to take a dramatic turn, meaning that Anna’s look for this series is noticeably more casual…
“I look pretty bad!” she chuckles. “I was just thinking about what I might do to my face – for series three, I’m going to have loads of botox!”
The first series clearly struck a chord with viewers across the country who could identify with the pressure to succeed on every front as a working mum, and Anna was surprised by the very physical reception from some fans of the show…
“They grab me a lot, which I don’t like,” she reveals. “I don’t know why, but it’s like they pounce out of a corner and go, ‘Oh, you’re that crazy woman!’ Maybe Julia’s just very grabbable, I don’t know.”
While Anna swears she’s nothing like Julia in real life, she understands her character’s insecurity at not being included by the other mums.
“I’m really into all of that, ‘Why wasn’t I invited on that big trip to the Isle of Wight?’” she admits. “I think that’s all
THEY’VE BEEN THRUST TOGETHER AS THIS ODD LITTLE GROUP”
ANNA
true! It can breed a sense of insecurity. Something that I love about our show is that Kevin, Liz and Julia would not perhaps otherwise have been friends, but they’ve just been thrust together and become this odd little group.”