Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.The television industry is fond of spin-offs, but producing one is rarely as straightforward as repeating the formula that made its parent show a success. For every Better Call Saul, arguably an even stronger series than Breaking Bad, there is a Joey, the Friends sequel so disastrous that it remains a cautionary tale 20 years later. Happily, Amandaland, spun off from the acerbic parenting sitcom Motherland, takes the former route, transforming its origin story into six fresh, inventive and newly hilarious episodes.Following her divorce, Amanda (Lucy Punch) has been forced to move from the affluent west London district of Chiswick to the less wealthy South Harlesden, or “SoHa”, as she insists on rebranding it. In Motherland, Amanda was queen bee, yet here she is, in a flat that is nowhere near a Waitrose, merely a Tesco Metro. She has to get a job, or as she prefers to put it, start a “collab” with a local business. As a setting for her tragicomic airs and graces, it is perfect. She strives to recreate her old life, but is brought back down to earth by her own circumstances, then cushioned by the fundamentally decent people around her.The children are now at secondary school, meaning the only other parent to cross over from Motherland is poor, browbeaten Anne (Philippa Dunne), Amanda’s former sidekick, whose freedom from her best friend and tormentor was sadly shortlived. Anne is joined by Amanda’s downstairs neighbour Mal (Samuel Anderson), a single dad sweetly navigating his relationship with his son’s stepfather JJ (Ekow Quartey), and the extravagantly awful couple Della and Fi (Siobhán McSweeney and Rochenda Sandall), local celebrities in SoHa thanks to Della’s pretentious restaurant, Shin.Amandaland is milder in tone than its spiky predecessor, but that frees it up to be more silly, too. For every clever set-up, there are pratfalls, bawdy double entendres and gags based simply on misheard names. Joanna Lumley reprises her role as Amanda’s casually cruel mother Felicity, and together, Lumley and Punch provide some of the funniest, and most heartfelt scenes. Amanda’s inflated sense of self is often the punchline, but her inability to pull off practically everything she aims for is as touching as it is humiliating, and the series’ conclusion is surprisingly warm. Original British comedy is enjoying a period of strength at the moment, and Amandaland has joined the ranks of the outstanding newcomers.★★★★☆On BBC iPlayer now
