BBC drops first trailer for Amandaland Christmas special

The BBC has dropped the first trailer for the highly-anticipated for the Amandaland Christmas special. 

British comedy series Amandaland, which is a spin-off of the much-loved Motherland, hit our screens on BBC One back in February. 

Amandaland follows the life of a recently divorced mum called Amanda who is trying to juggle looking after her children, a new relationship and friendships with the parents at her kid’s school. 

‘Life after Motherland. Downsizing, facing the horror of modern teens – not even an alpha mum can do it alone. And then there’s her mother… Starring Lucy Punch and Joanna Lumley,’ BBC iPlayer’s synopsis reads.  

Fans were over the moon when it was revealed in October that there would be a festive special involving Amanda Hughes (Lucy Punch), her mum Felicity Sanderson (Joanna Lumley) and Anne Flynn (Philippa Dunne). 

The first look sees Amanda, her family and pals Mal (Samuel Anderson) and Anne head over to aunt Joan’s (Jennifer Saunders) countryhouse. 

Joan is over the moon to see Amanda, but Amanda’s mum Felicity doesn’t appear to be that excited to see her. 

In one clip, Amanda can be seen giving her aunt a gift, but a shocked Anne asks her: ‘Didn’t I just gift you that?’ 

Amanda simply replies: ‘Yes.’

In another scene Anne can be seen telling Mal: ‘I really think Amanda deserves to know.’  

She pops her head around the corner of the door and asks: ‘What do I deserve to know?’ 

Back in October, speaking on the Chris Evans Breakfast Show, Joanna said: ‘I’m just about to start another series of Amandaland which was the spin-off from Motherland, which was a gorgeous, wild success.

‘Clever, clever Lucy Punch. We’re just about to start seven more episodes and one is a Christmas special for this year.’

Amandaland is written by Holly Walsh, Helen Serafinowicz, Barunka O’Shaughnessy and Laurence Rickard.

The show is directed by Simon Bird and Alyssa McClelland. 

It stars Lucy Punch as Amanda Hughes, Joanna Lumley as Felicity Sanderson, Phillippa Dunne as Anne Flynn, Samuel Anderson as Mal,  Siobhán McSweeney as Della Fry, Rochenda Sandall as Fi and Ekow Quartey as JJ. 

The comedy is a spin-off of popular sitcom Motherland, which ran 19 episodes across three seasons between 2016 and 2022.

Motherland was created and written by Sharon Horgan, Graham Linehan, Helen Serafinowicz and Holly Walsh. 

It followed the lives of a group of parents whose children all attended the same school.

Anna Maxwell Martin played protagonist Julia Johnstone, Diane Morgan played Liz, Paul Ready played Kevin Brady and Tanya Moodie played Meg.

Lucy and Philippa’s alter-egos also starred in Motherland.  

Since the first series aired back in January, Amandaland has averaged 6.4million views and has become the BBC’s second biggest comedy launch.

Despite being a success, it has faced mixed reviews from fans with some feeling it lacked the same charm as the original and questioned why the BBC didn’t just continue the beloved series instead.

However Daily Mail’s Christopher Stevens rated it five stars and praised the show for its compelling acting and quirky storylines.

The BBC has now confirmed that Amandaland will run for a second series after being overwhelmed by the response from fans.

Co-writer and creator Holly Walsh said: ‘We’ve been bowled over by the response to Amandaland and can’t wait to get co-labbing on the next series’.

Sharon Horgan, co-founder of Merman, praised the ‘incredible cast and writers’.

‘With any new show you put out there, your main hope is to make something you love and are proud of,’ she said.

‘The extra bonus is that it’s a critical hit. But to have a loyal audience of this size is just beyond your hopes and expectations.

‘The incredible cast and writers, director and production team worked so hard on this show and it’s so wonderful to see that hard work pay off.

‘Special thanks to Lucy for being the most extraordinary front woman and to the BBC for having such faith in the idea of Amandaland from the off.’

The Amandaland Christmas Special will air on Christmas Day at 9:15pm on BBC One and iPlayer.