Joanna Scanlan, Tamsin Greig, Rosalie Craig, Lorraine Ashbourne and Amelia Bullmore play the Hebden Bridge quintet who meet at a community centre and decide the talent show needs a song about HRT called "Seeing Red". Sally Wainwright keeps the camera tight on their faces as they rehearse in a scout hut, each woman learning the instrument she plays on screen while swapping stories about grown children who still take, parents who now need spoon-feeding, and husbands who vanished. The songs arrive courtesy of Brighton duo ARXX, whose spiky riffs give the band a reason to keep showing up after the contest ends.
Between shifts at the care home, the police station and the pottery stall, the women uncover a buried secret that links Craig's chaotic Kitty and Scanlan's watchful Beth across thirty years, forcing them to decide whether the band is more important than the truth. Taj Atwal's Nisha, one of the backing singers, takes the brunt of institutional misogyny when colleagues at West Yorkshire Police decide she’s trouble; her bruises become the next lyric. Wainwright shoots each episode in sequence, letting the colour drain from the Calder Valley as winter sets in and the women realise the stage is the only place their voices carry.
The BBC released all six episodes on 12 October 2025, then renewed the drama within six weeks, proof that viewers wanted more than a cosy sing-along. Lucy Mangan called it Wainwright’s best since Happy Valley, praising how it refuses to separate laughter from fury; Autostraddle celebrated its casual queerness while another critic dismissed it as "straight, suburban and staunchly conventional". The argument misses the point: these women aren’t reclaiming riot grrrl, they’re inventing their own middle-aged version, one power chord at a time.
Production Details
BBC One / 1 Season / 6 Episodes / 2025 - Present
Created by: Sally Wainwright
Showrunner(s): Sally Wainwright, Tanya Qureshi, Robert Schildhouse
Writer(s): Sally Wainwright
Main Cast
Joanna Scanlan as Beth
Rosalie Craig as Kitty
Tamsin Greig as Holly
Lorraine Ashbourne as Jess
Amelia Bullmore as Yvonne
Shannon Lavelle as Chloe
Tony Hirst as Jerry
Erin Ainsworth as Heidi
Anne Reid as Nancy
Natalia Tena as Inez
Rick Warden as Nick
Taj Atwal as Nisha
