Motherland star Diane Morgan has said she wasn’t asked to join the cast of the series’ spin off show Amandaland.
The 49-year-old comedian and actor played sarcastic single mum Liz on the original programme, which was axed by the BBC in March last year.
Instead, the broadcaster released a new series focussed on Lucy’s Punch’s alpha mother character Amanda, following her life after her divorce and reluctant relocation from Chiswick to South Harlesden.
Speaking to The Guardian, Morgan joked it was “[a] bit awkward” she wasn’t asked to be part of the series, which carried Punch, Philippa Dunne and Joanna Lumley’s characters over from the original show.
“No, I think it would be weird if we’d all gone back into it, and called it Amandaland,” she clarified. “It’s a different show.”
Morgan admitted she’s never watched an episode of Amandaland, because she doesn’t like to watch funny shows due to her comedy career.
“It feels too close to home,” she said. “I can’t switch my brain off from going, ‘oh, I see what you did there.’ I just ruin it, because I can’t enjoy things.”
The actor and comedian, who is known for fronting the mockumentary Cunk on Earth, said she instead prefers to watch documentaries from the Seventies because she finds them “really funny”.
“There’s one that’s purely about people who have got struck by lightning. It’s just superb,” she said.
Motherland, released in 2017, aired for three series before drawing to a close. It returned for a BBC Christmas special in 2022, with Morgan confirming there are no plans for a fourth series.
The comedy explored the challenges of middle-class motherhood and starred Bleak House actor Anna Maxwell Martin, Morgan, Punch, and Bodyguard star Paul Ready.
Punch’s spin-off, which was released in February this year, was met with rave reviews, with The Independent’s Charlotte O’Sullivan dubbing the show “clever, jolly and hard to resist”.
“The undeniably talented Punch has never been better,” she wrote. “She juggles her expressions so we never know whether to expect innocence or low cunning.”
South Park creators strike $1.5bn streaming deal with Paramount
The Voice reveals shake-up for season 29 as a trio of popular judges set to return
Malcolm-Jamal Warner’s ex Regina King leads tributes after star’s tragic death
Current that killed Malcolm-Jamal Warner left another man in critical condition
Meet the Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins line-up
Bravo star Scheana Shay reveals the ‘biggest secret’ she’s ever kept
