We Are Lady Parts
One thing is for sure – I can guarantee you won’t have seen anything like this on mainstream television before.
Bold, funny, high-energy and unafraid to address thorny issues and subjects, Nida Manzoor’s brilliant series is a total blast. Set in London, it follows the fortunes of an all-female Muslim punk band, Lady Parts, whose songs include
Voldemort Under My Headscarf, Bashir with the Good Beard and the edgy Aint Noone Gonna Honour Kill My Sister But Me.
The main narrative is told from the perspective of PhD student Amina (Anjana Vasan), quiet, diligent, nerdy about microbiology, who is in search of a husband. She is more religiously observant than her liberal parents and in her spare time teaches guitar to underprivileged kids. She emphatically does not perform due to her stage fright.
Meanwhile Lady Parts are looking for an extra guitarist to beef up their sound. They hold auditions in the back room of the halal butcher’s where anarchic lead singer Saira (Sarah Kameela Impey) works but only one (totally unsuitable) candidate turns up. Then Amina arrives, lured there by drummer and Uber driver Ayesha’s handsome brother Ahsan. The deal is if she agrees to play in the band, Saira will introduce her to suitable men. As Amina begins to find her voice with the band, she straddles two worlds, concealing her secret life from her cliquey, conventional friends.
The writing is spiky and funny with the characters all defying tired stereotypes. They even get their own Wayne’s World
moment headbanging to the Proclaimers’
I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles) in Ayesha’s Uber. Absolutely glorious.