‘Riot Women’: Sally Wainwright Discusses the ‘Extraordinary Energy’ in Her New Drama About a Menopausal Punk Band at Series Mania
variety.comAlex Ritman “Happy Valley,” “Gentleman Jack” and “Last Tango in Halifax” creator Sally Wainwright has lifted the lid on her latest project, a new series about a group of 50-something women who form a punk band.
Speaking at a special Masterclass at Series Mania in Lille, Wainwright discussed “Riot Women,” the upcoming six-part drama which was commissioned by the BBC and Britbox for the U.S.
The idea, she said, had come to her around 10 years ago, but she found herself too busy to work on it given the other series she had going on at the time. “It’s personal,” she said of the story. “It’s about my life.
It’s about the menopause, elderly parents that need your help, difficult children … my husband also decided to leave. But nobody wants to talk about the menopause, or it can be an energy drain.” Wainwright added that she “wanted to write about feeling that I was changing or becoming a different kind of person.” Shot last year and starring a who’s who of British TV talent, including Lorraine Ashbourne, Joanna Scanlan, Tamsin Greig, Rosalie Craig, and Amelia Bullmore, “Riot Women” has “extraordinary energy,” Wainwright asserted, but noted that it was “very dark” in moments.
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