If you’ve heard great things about Riot Women, it will take only the few minutes of watching the start to confirm that this is, indeed, an outstanding drama. Teacher Beth Thornton has absolutely nothing left to give. Dealing with a mother with dementia, a selfish brother, a thankless job, life that feels empty now her son is grown… it’s all too much, a state of overwhelm that’s grippingly portrayed by played by BAFTA Award-winning actress Joanna Scanlan. And then a phone call changes everything. Her friend, publican Jess (Lorraine Ashbourne), wants to start a band to raise money for charity.
Meanwhile, Kitty Eckersley (Rosalie Craig) lurches through a supermarket, popping pills and messily downing vodka from a bottle grabbed from the shelf. She’s about to be arrested by policewoman Holly Gaskell (Tamsin Greig), another who has been recruited by Jess to join the band. Throw midwife Yvonne (Amelia Bullmore) into the mix and soon there’s a band of women who find they’ve got plenty to shout about.
It’s a drama that hits the highs, the lows and the laughs and does it beautifully – unsurprising given comes from writer-director Sally Wainwright, whose impressive CV includes creating TV series Happy Valley, Gentleman Jack and Last Tango in Halifax.
Wainwright, who served as creator, writer, executive producer and series’ lead director on Riot Women, describes the drama as having dark moments threaded through, but also “very human, very joyous and celebratory too”.
She’s full of praise for the cast – and the fact that several of the actresses had to learn to play musical instruments for the show.
“They’re just joyous. They’re a joyous group of people to be with and I feel personally uplifted just by being around them. Rosalie can sing, she’s a brilliant singer. Joanna, Tamsin, Amelia and Lorraine couldn’t play their instruments before they started so they’ve been on a massive journey where they are now a band – they are really playing those instruments. Toby Higgins and Nick Pinchpeck have been their music teachers, and they’ve all really applied themselves. It’s miraculous what they’ve done in quite a short space of time … around 6 to 7 months. I was really keen that they should be playing their own instruments, I hate it when you see people pretending or miming as I think it instantly takes you out of it. I think it also helped them to really own their characters.”
The music that threads through the show gives this highly relatable drama a special energy – as Rosalie Craig says, it’s got all the strengths you might expect from a Wainwright-crafted show – “hard-hitting, beautifully crafted, emotionally engaging and dramatically rich… it goes without saying that there are many narratives that weave in and out – issues of domestic violence, misogyny, divorce, ageing (both parental and personal) – but also moments of joy and elation and friendship and love.
“Well, there’s all of that still - but this time with music! And not just any music - original, powerful, rebellious, female-led, hilarious, riotous punk music that infuses, leads and expands the drama. That feels really thrilling - to be pushing at the boundaries of what television and televisual storytelling can do. How does music bring these women together and what power does it have to keep there? How do their lives weave in and out of each other’s when change is happening to them and around them?”
Scanlan says the story dew her in.
“When I read the story and the script, it was a real page turner, and I just wanted to be part of something that really gets to the heart of life. There is something about it that is everyday but there’s something about it that is also extremely transformative and magical.”
Lorraine Ashbourne says she felt close to who her character Jess was. “Like most women, Jess is multi-tasking physically and emotionally - she’s swamped running a pub, looking after her kids, her grandkids, her relationship, her friends and her community. She’s available to everyone - selfless and not exactly fulfilled.
“Yes, it’s centred around women but it’s certainly a universal story. I can’t compare Riot Women to anything else on our screens right now - it’s complex, compelling, shocking and at times brutal. We witness women pushed to their limits and then their resilience, strength and determination to survive but it’s also entertaining and really funny!”
The coming-together to form a band mirrored the cast forming their own bonds, she says.
“What a privilege to form a band with these talented, powerful women. It’s utterly thrilling, and I think all women of a certain age – of ANY age – should be in a band!
“Playing music together was rewarding and incredibly bonding but there was also a fair bit of bonding off screen as we had a lot of seriously good talks, most definitely prompted by Sally’s material about parents, partners, kids, teenagers, siblings, menopause, women, bodies, health, ageing and sex. All the good stuff… pure therapy.”
Tamsin Greig agrees.
“I was told early on that I needed to learn the bass guitar. In the show Holly learns how to play the bass guitar and, mercifully in the scripts, Sally has written that Holly isn’t great at it. So, I’ve really leaned into that! But I’ve had a fantastic teacher.
“It's so unbelievably thrilling to play as a band. I didn’t know that this fizzy joy could still be experienced at this point in my life.”
The Guardian calls it a “perfectly seasoned” drama (and it proved so popular that a second season has been commissioned). It’s about the real challenges facing many women, but also about how friendship can be an unexpected lifesaver.
Amelia Bullmore sums it up well: “Riot Women is an amazing whirlwind mixture of people, very intense situations, troubling things, joyful things, evolving characters, music, it’s joyful, it’s infectious but also painful. I think it’s also a timeless story about people looking to belong, looking for connection, people looking for something a bit more in their life.”
From fizzy joy to shocking discoveries, via punk-rock music, Riot Women is loud, fun, meaningful and real.
This article contains material supplied by Drama Republic.
Riot Women is now streaming at SBS On Demand.
