Amandaland, SoHa and Jamon, The Catalan Way
Our delulu queen from Motherland is "actually a mega foodie myself", FYI
What to watch tonight: Amandaland (BBC One/iPlayer)
In the great British comedy tradition, all the best series have at their centre a pretty loathsome character, who so spectacularly misreads every social situation, that you just can’t help but feel a little sorry for them, being so petty and pathetic. This set up goes hand-in-hand with another thing us Brits have nailed: awkward, toe-curling, cringe comedy. Think David Brent in The Office, Mark and Jez in Peep Show, Alan Partridge in, well, everything, and all the way back to Basil Fawlty in Fawlty Towers.
And the women aren’t much better: for every “nice” comedy character, there’s Eddie and Patsy in Absolutely Fabulous, Karen in Pulling, Jill Tyrell in Nighty Night (or maybe she’s just her own unique brand of monster) and now we have a new comedy anti-hero we love to hate: Amanda from Motherland, now given her own spin-off show on BBC One/iPlayer called, what else but Amandaland.
Amanda – played by the incredible Lucy Punch – is a delusional, self-obsessed, social-climbing mum, who’s main job appears to be letting everyone know they are utterly beneath her, unless she can benefit from them in some way. She’s a modern day Hyacinth Bucket – if she’d been into this social-media-and-botox era –; obsessed with appearances and mixing with the “right” sort of people, and she’ll stop at nothing to attempt to ingratiate herself with them.
It’s hard to pinpoint exactly when Amanda first secured her total icon status; but the moment she truly slayed is currently enjoying a huge, rightful revival on TikTok. To recap, the end of series three of the parenting sitcom finds Amanda is having a meltdown and it is comedy gold:
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It’s fitting that all eyes are back on Amanda now, as either in a stroke of marketing genius (or it’s just genuinely gone viral as it’s so good) the hoards of social media fans recreating the scene ties in perfectly with the new spin-off series, out tonight.
So, our delulu queen is back; she’s been shunted out of Chiswick thanks to the bloody divorce with Johnny (not that it matters, it’s all about SoHa – South Harlesden – now, apparently), and the kids are – ugh – in state school now. But as she tells Anne, her long-suffering mum friend who she reconnects with: “Don’t you worry about little old me, it’s all good!” Run Anne; run while you still can.
The series is a hoot. Despite there being no permanently flustered Julia (Anna Maxwell-Martin) or deadpan, straight-talking Liz (Diane Burns), we’ve got more than welcome additions of Derry Girls’ excellent Siobhan McSweeney as the moody chef Della Fry who simply will not take Amanda’s shit, her peppy wife Fi (Line of Duty’s Rochenda Sandall) and even Joanna Lumley making a happy return as Amanda’s mum.
The episodes are slightly formulaic – it’s a half hour sitcom, after all – but there’s some absolutely whip-sharp, hysterical one-liners from the writing team (Holly Walsh, Helen Serafinowicz, Barunka O'Shaughnessy and Laurence Rickard) that are well-observed moments from the parenting world, as one woman attempts to be the mama bear and stomp to the top of the social hierarchy of SoHa, sorry, South Harlesden.
Obviously, she gets it wrong in every episode. And although there are little glimpses of humanity and empathy beneath her superficial surface; revel at her in all her glory — Amandaland is all about the schadenfreude of Amanda, being Amanda.
What do they eat and drink on Amandaland?
When Anne tells Amanda that the chef/owner of Shin restaurant, Della Fry (McSweeney), sends her daughter to their school, it’s like she’s told her Nigella Lawson is popping over for tea. Sorry, Anne, did you say Shin? “Their ossobuco is Off. The. Charts!”Amanda exclaims, and I think you can guess which parents Amanda plans to throw herself at.
So really, the first thing that anyone’s eating on Amandaland is their knuckles, as the fist-gnawingly lines that Amanda throws out are truly awful, as she tries to cosy up to Della after crashing her kid’s house party. “Look at you, sauteing away!” she coos, before embarrassing herself by saying proudly: “I’m actually a mega foodie myself, I used to work front of house at Quo Vadis in my 20s, so I know my parfait from my brulee.” But by far the biggest laugh is when she says of the dressing that Della’s whipping up: “Is that ChimChimMernee?” No, Dick van Dyke, it’s chimichurri!
Della’s cooking a big meal for her daughter, Morten, and it’s a meat feast (she scolds her 14-year-old daughter for picking up a bottle of fizz; “You never pair pork with Prosecco! Go with a light red or robust white”), while she carves off slices of a leg of Jamon. Della seductively offers a piece to her wife “off the knife, just like the Catalonians” which she enjoys, only for Amanda to pipe up: “I’ll have what she’s having!”.
However, a little sliver of meat begrudgingly given to her by Della is all Amanda gets to eat, as it’s hot tub time for the women. Although Amanda throws caution to the wind – all evening has been spent practising her ‘cool mum’ vibe – and agrees to go for a dip with the women in their hot-tub, she only pretends to eat the magic mushrooms they then offer her. Shame really, I was looking forward to watching a spangled Amanda spin out in a jacuzzi – and lord knows if anyone needs a psychedelic release, it’s our Amanda.
What you should eat and drink while watching Amandaland
Let’s stick with the Catalan and Spanish vibe Della knocked up for the kids dinner party, and have a little tapas. These Jamon, fig and Manchego bites are super easy to make and taste banging:
Jamon, fig and Manchego bites
Serves 4 peckish people, or two hungry people
Ingredients:
About 150g of Manchego, with the rind cut off and sliced into thinish slices
About 100g of sliced Jamon, as fancy as you can afford, cut into half slices
3 or 4 ripe figs, cut into quarters
Some Pedro Ximenez sherry, or, at a push, some Balsamic syrup
Cocktail sticks
Method
Place the half slice of Jamon on a board, lay the slice of cheese and fig quarter on top
Roll it up, stick a cocktail stick in it, and drizzle a little Pedro Ximenez on top
It’s literally that easy! Now repeat, and eat.
As another little snack, I just know Amanda eats Torres crisps, but, as all the cool foodie kids know now, it’s all about the Superbon Chips De Madrid instead. Plain salt is fine, but the Cretan salt flavour are just that little bit more…Hygge Tygge.
To drink, avoid pulling a Darius and steer clear of the Armagnac and instead follow Della’s suggestion of a robust Spanish white. This organic Albariño will do the job nicely, and won’t break the bank either.
Salut!