Motherland, final episode, review: a hilariously close-to-the-bone depiction of parenthood

At my daughter’s sports day, I watched in wonder as one of the mothers turned up in running gear, gave her little cherub the kind of pep talk normally reserved for boxers, then set off at a sprint alongside him during the main race, screaming instructions all the way. It was a nursery; the children were three.

So it was with a deep sense of recognition that I sat down to the final episode of Motherland, the BBC Two sitcom about the highs and lows – actually, no, just the lows – of parenting. Lead character Julia (Anna Maxwell Martin) neatly summed up the sports day experience: “A long day with what amounts to kettling in between.”

Queen Bee Amanda (Lucy Punch) put on a brave face, and a pair of expensive leggings, in the face of her impending divorce. Meanwhile, Kevin (Paul Ready) was having a meltdown over his switch from stay-at-home dad to working parent, providing a gender twist on “mum guilt”. And Liz (Diane Morgan) was wondering which was worse, her useless ex-partner or her cystitis.

The cleverest thing is that children don’t really figure in Motherland. It’s not the interactions between parent and child that are served up for laughs. Instead, this is the TV equivalent of meeting another mum at the school gates and discovering to your relief that their life is as chaotic as yours.

Despite being its target demographic, I don’t quite love Motherland. Perhaps it’s Maxwell Martin’s performance, which is dialled up so that she can only communicate by gurning. Or perhaps it’s just too close to the bone for anyone doubting whether they’re even nailing what Julia called “entry level mothering”. But it’s a funnier and truer depiction  of motherhood than anything else.