The BBC sitcom Motherland is marking its 10th anniversary, prompting a retrospective on how the show reshaped depictions of motherhood on television. Created by Sharon Horgan, Holly Walsh, Helen Serafinowicz and Graham Linehan, and joined by Barunka O'Shaughnessy from series two, the sitcom stood out by focusing not on children but on the fraught adult social dynamics of school-gate parenting, playing more like a workplace comedy set among competitive, exhausted mothers.

Anna Maxwell Martin starred as the perpetually stressed Julia, alongside Diane Morgan's Liz, Paul Ready's Kevin, Philippa Dunne's Anne and Lucy Punch's domineering Amanda, who later got her own spin-off, Amandaland. Tanya Moodie's Meg joined in series two to diversify the group, though the show remained tightly focused on its affluent west London setting, mining comedy from PTA meetings, sports days and birthday parties, and capturing the anxious, judgement-laden rivalries between mothers.