Motherland Christmas Special Review

Christmas has come and gone, but it doesn’t stop us from watching Christmas related programming. One of the few shows to get a Christmas this year was BBC Two’s Motherland.

Christmas is upon the mums. Julia (Anna Maxwell Martin) has to prepare the Christmas meal and look after her in-laws, Kevin (Paul Ready) plays Minecraft to make sure it’s appropriate for his kids, Liz has a lonely Christmas because her ex has her children for the holiday, and Meg (Tanya Moodie) smells like a Weatherspoons carpet. To alleviate the stress Julia convince the mums to go to Amanda’s (Lucy Punch) party, despite Amanda being an uptight woman.

Motherland is a show that a lot of mothers can relate to and one thing most mums will say Christmas is one of the most stressful times of the year. They usually have to do all the cooking, shopping, and decorating, so Motherland was an excellent candidate to have a Christmas Special. Julia emphasises the stresses mums suffer.

Maxwell Martin was the star of this special. She had the funniest lines and delivery in the episode. Her highlights were her rant before leaving the family and the excuse she makes to hide a stain on the carpet. Moodie as Meg was the major comedic star in the special. Moodie gave a broader performance because her character got blind stinking drunk – it was similar to her first appearance in the show.

Kevin and Anne (Phillipa Dunne) were the heart of the episode. Both were sweet characters who get dominated by their ‘friends.’ Kevin was so innocent and pure that he plays Minecraft to make sure it didn’t have any drug references or causal misogyny and ends up getting absorbed by the game. He was hurt when his building got attacked by children. Anne was just a good-natured person who has a bad choice of friends. Anne’s good nature was shown when she found out about some anti-Santa graffiti and she was willing to defy Amanda.

Liz was low energy in the episode. She’s usually my favourite character in the series. She did have the funny comment that she was insulted that she was kicked out of a party she didn’t even want to attend.

Whilst Amanda was normally portrayed as an uptight, controlling figure, however, she was justified with her reaction to kick Julia and the group out of her party. Julia’s excuse was enough to get her kicked out of most places. So it was a bit rich for Julia to have a go at her.

The Special managed to have that warm Christmassy feel towards the end. Friends and rivals come together for a greater cause and all of them experience some sort of a Christmas miracle. Considering how bad 2020 has been for most of us we needed that warm fuzzy feeling.

Motherland’s Christmas Special is unlikely to go down as a classic, but it was decent 30 minutes of television.