A teacher, a police officer, a pub landlady, a midwife, and a shoplifting freeloader all join forces to form a punk rock band? And it stars some of our favourite faces from British TV? And it’s the latest offering from Sally Wainwright who brought us absolute gems like Happy Valley and Gentleman Jack? Sign us up!
Honestly, Riot Women has so many different things working in its favour that it’s bound to be an absolute sensation when it airs on 12th October.
But if all the hype surrounding it has passed you by and you’re not sure whether or not this drama is for you, then keep reading because we’ve done a deep dive into Riot Women - even interviewing the five leading ladies.
Here’s everything you need to know about Riot Women.
What is Riot Women about?
When five menopausal women decide to form a punk rock band and take part in a local talent contest, they finally understand that having their voices heard through music can be a powerful thing. And it turns out that they’ve got plenty to say about life, love and everything in between.
As the eclectic group form deep friendships through the band, the fivesome learn that they have far more in common than they ever could have realised.
Who stars in Riot Women?
Joanna Scanlan as Beth Thornton
Cheshire-born Joanna has starred in numerous TV shows over the years including the previous series of Slow Horses as Catherine Standish’s overly efficient replacement Moira Tregorian. You may have also spotted her in as Ma Larkin in The Larkins, Sandra in Hold the Sunset, DI Vivienne Deering in No Offence, Terri Coverley in The Thick of It and Sister Den Flixster in Getting On – for which she was nominated for three BAFTA TV Awards including two for Best Writing.
And Joanna’s film career has been no less prolific having appeared in the Bridget Jones franchise as make-up lady Cathy, the Olivia Coleman-led Wicked Little Letters as Ann and of course, After Love. For playing Mary in After Love, Joanna was the first person since 2003 to win the BAFTA for Best Actress in a Leading Role without being nominated for the corresponding Oscar.
Speaking about her latest role as Beth Thornton in Riot Women Joanna tells TVChoice, ‘Beth is a teacher, and she's divorced. She's on her own with a grown-up son, living in a converted farmhouse on the Moors, and actually very lonely and unhappy but without being able to do anything to help herself. And more importantly, she's an accomplished pianist…’
Rosalie Craig as Kitty Eckersley
Although Rosalie Craig has made more of a name for herself on stage, rather than on screen, you may have spotted her in BBC One’s Moonflower Murders last year as well as episodes of Spooks, Miranda, Midsomer Murders and The Queen’s Gambit.
Introducing Kitty Eckersley to TVChoice, Rosalie tells us, ‘You meet Kitty when she's at her lowest. She's been chucked out by this guy Gavin that she’s staying with, and she's self-medicating. So we find her in a terrible place, and she decides to go to a pub and exorcise her feelings by singing – if you can call it singing - just screaming her version of Standing on the Hill. And that's where she meets Beth.’
Lorraine Ashbourne as Jess Burchill
Any Bridgerton fans? Maybe you’ll recognise Lorraine Asbourne as having played Mrs. Varley on the Netflix series. Lorraine – who has been married to actor Andy Serkis since 2002 – has also starred in City Central as Sgt. Yvonne Mackey, Playing the Field as Geraldine Powell, and more recently Sherwood as Daphne Sparrow and After the Flood as Molly Marshall.
Lorraine says of Jess Burchill from Riot Women, ‘I love everything about this show. It's a wonderful script, and I love my character. She’s the drummer. She keeps the band together, she keeps her family together, she keeps the community together. She's great at spinning plates, keeping everything going.’
Tamsin Greig as Holly Gaskell
There was a while when Tamsin Greig was essentially the face of the Channel 4 sitcom. She played Fran Katzenjammer in Black Books, Dr Caroline Todd in Green Wing and, of course, Jackie Goodman (of ‘Hello Jackie!’ fame) in Friday Night Dinner.
Film-wise you may have spotted Tamsin in Tamara Drewe as Beth Hardiment and The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel as Lavinia Beech.
Speaking to TVChoice about her latest role as Holly Gaskell in Riot Women Tasmin tells us, ‘ I play Holly Gaskell, who is a retiring police officer who's been in the police for 30 years. She has a sister played by Amelia Bullmore - I cannot believe we’ve not been cast together as siblings before now, given our profiles and jawlines.
‘Holly has two grown up sons, is divorced and is a can-do person who’s just up for stuff. She has a mother played by the extraordinary Anne Reed, who is beginning a journey into dementia.’
Amelia Bullmore as Yvonne Vaux
By contrast Amelia Bullmore jokes of her character Yvonne Vaux, 'Yvonne is a can't do person. And Holly asks Yvonne if she'd like to be in the band I think only because she thinks Yvonne wouldn’t turn up. She remembers that Yvonne had learnt guitar a bit as a kid, and Yvonne is very wary of looking a fool, but decides to give it a go.’
Amelia originally got her start on Coronation Street in the early 90s playing Steph Barnes and has gone on to make a name for herself in the acting world by starring in shows like The Larkins (alongside her Riot Women co-star Joanna Scanlan) as Miss Edith Pilchester and The Jetty as Sylvia.
Riot Women isn’t the first time that Amelia has starred in a Sally Wainwright show as she previously appeared in Happy Valley as Vicky Fleming and Gentleman Jack as Eliza Priestly.
Anne Reid as Nancy
Another star who made her name on the cobbles, Anne Reid played Valerie Barlow from 1961-1971. Since then her TV career has been prolific starring as Jean in Dinnerladies, as Anne Moore-Martin in the true crime drama Sixth Commandment and Celia Dawson in Last Tango in Halifax for which she was nominated for the BAFTA for Best Actress.
Anne – who boasts an MBE and OBE for services to drama - also received a BAFTA nomination for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her performance in The Mother. Other film roles include Wendolene Ramsbottom in Wallace & Gromit: A Close Shave and Leslie Tiller in Hot Fuzz. Plus, she also filmed a scene for Love Actually as a lesbian headmistress, but it was ultimately cut from the final edit.
Taj Atwal as Nisha Lal
Despite being one of the younger members of the cast when it comes to Riot Women, Taj Atwal has already starred in plenty of our favourite TV shows.
We’re talking series five of Line of Duty as PC Tatleen Sohota, Ruth Jones’ Stella as Jaminder Choudary, The Syndicate as Roxy Varma and Daddy Issues – which is set to return for a second season - as Cherry.
Ellise Chappell as Fearne
Ellise Chappell’s first on-screen role came with the TV series New Blood – she played Wendy Roberts in the Anthony Horowitz adaptation. More recently she’s appeared in the later series of Poldark as Morwenna, the governess of Geoffrey Poldark who eventually married Drake Carne, and Young Wallander as Mona.
Tony Hirst as Jerry Booth
Another Coronation Street alum starring in Riot Women is Tony Hirst who played Paul Kershaw, the love interest of Eileen Grimshaw, on the show in 2011.
He also appeared as Mike Barnes in Hollyoaks in 2006 and the sixth and final series of Brassic as Dougie Ratcliffe.
Sue Johnston as Auntie Mary
Another star of Riot Women, and you guessed it another former Corrie star, is Sue Johnston who played Gloria Price on the ITV soap. You may also recognise her from Brookside in which she played Shelia Grant, Downton Abbey in which she played Miss Denker, The Cockfields in which she played Sue Cockfield and Waking the Dead in which she played Grace Foley.
Arguably Sue’s most famous role however, was as Barbara Royle in the BBC comedy The Royle Family which saw her nominated for a BAFTA for Best Comedy Performance in 2000. She was then nominated for the BAFTA for Best Supporting Actress earlier this year for her work on Truelove.
Mark Bazeley as Gavin
Mark Bazeley is exactly the kind of actor that we write these articles for, those stars where you recognise their faces but can’t quite place them because they didn’t lead the show.
For example Mark appeared in a couple of episodes of the Adrian Scarborough-led The Chelsea Detective earlier this year, a few episodes of Secret Invasion, three episodes of COBRA and one series of Broadchurch.
Ben Batt as Rudy
Ben Batt is probably best known for his role as Joe Pritchard in the UK version of Shameless – the show on which he met his now wife Rebecca Atkinson who played Karen Maguire. You may also have spotted Ben as Private Derek Toogood in The Promise and as DC Kevin Lumb in Scott & Bailey.
More recently he played Pat Miller in Netflix’s Toxic Town, John Cartwright in The English Game and Owen Jenkins in Rules of The Game.
Natalie Tena as Inez
Even Harry Potter fans might not be immediately able to place Natalie Tena aka Nymphadora Tonks considering her character was able to shapeshift. Or maybe you recognise Natalie from her role as the wildling Osha in Game of Thrones.
When she’s not acting, Natalie serves as the lead singer and accordionist of Molotov Jukebox – an alternative, indie band in which Natalie is the only woman.
Claire Skinner as Tricia
There can be no denying that Claire Skinner’s most famous role to date is playing Sue Brockman in Outnumbered. Fun fact: Claire tied the knot with Hugh Dennis aka Pete Brockman from Outnumbered in 2022 after five years of dating.
Flexing her dramatic muscles, other TV series Claire has starred in include The Trial as Dione Sinclair, Coma as Beth Henderson, and the Agatha Christie adaptation of The Pale Horse as Yvonne Tuckerton. That’s not to say she hasn’t kept up the comedy though, there was a cameo as a dentist in Ted Lasso in 2021 and she played Chief Superintendent Mary Ormond in series three and four of McDonald & Dodds.
Peter Davison as Graham
A British acting legend, Peter Davison – David Tennant’s father-in-law through his daughter Georgia – originally came to fame as Tristan Farnon in the original BBC adaptation of James Herriot’s All Creatures Great and Small. Then he played the fifth incarnation of the Doctor in Doctor Who from 1981 to 1984.
More recently you may have spotted Peter as Peter in Beyond Paradise, as ACP Gordon Stewart in The Gold and as The Vicar in The Larkins (alongside his Riot Women co-stars Joanna Scanlan and Amelia Bullmore).
Nicholas Gleaves as Tony
When you Google ‘Nicholas Gleaves’ an image of a much younger Nicholas appears, looking dashing in a billowing white shirt. We can only assume that’s from when he starred in the 1996 TV film adaptation of Poldark as Stephen Cravenson.
More recently Nicholas has appeared in The Bombing of Pan Am 103 as Allen Feraday, After The Flood as Sergeant Phil Mackie and The Rising as William Wyatt.
Olwen May as Margaret
Olwen May – who in turns out is married to Kevin Doyle (more on his career in a second) - is yet another Coronation Street star in Riot Women having played D.C Joyce Malone during the major storyline of the investigation of Frank Foster (Andrew Lancel) when he allegedly raped Carla Connor (Alison King).
Other credits to Olwen’s name include The Bay as D.C. Lou McClaren and Slow Horses as The Park’s receptionist.
Kevin Doyle as Michael
Riot Women isn’t the first Sally Wainwright project that Kevin Doyle has starred in as he previously appeared as DS John Wadsworth in Happy Valley.
You may also recognise Kevin from his role as the footman Joseph Molesley in Downton Abbey and John Parr in The Lakes.
Who wrote Riot Women?
Sally Wainwright – of Happy Valley, Gentleman Jack and Last Tango in Halifax fame – served as Creator, Writer, Executive Producer and Lead Director on Riot Women.
Speaking about her inspiration for the series Sally admits, ‘I had the idea for the series about ten years ago. It was about finding a life-affirming way to talk about the menopause. I’ve always wanted to write about a rock band, so it was just putting those two things together.’
The multi-BAFTA Award winner continues, ‘I just want to entertain people primarily; it’s always been what I’ve wanted to do. I wanted to write about the menopause because I was going through it, it was interesting and something I hadn’t really thought about until it started to happen. My mum told me that she laughed her way through the menopause, and I thought I was going to do that too.
‘Looking back though, I don’t think she did laugh her way through it, and I think she was having quite a tough time with it. People just didn’t talk about it then, but people are talking about the menopause a lot more now and we can actually have shows on telly that are about women going through the menopause. It’s out there more. I wanted to address how it can make you feel but also to present it in a way that is uplifting.’
Where was Riot Women filmed?
Riot Women is set and filmed in West Yorkshire, just like Sally’s previous project Happy Valley which starred Sarah Lancashire and James Norton.
Sally – who was born in Huddersfield and attended the University of York - says of that decision, ‘It’s a story that could really be set anywhere to be honest, but I do like writing in my own vernacular because I think I can get more comedy out of the language if I’m writing in my own dialect and you can’t beat the landscape in Hebden Bridge.
‘Riot Women is even more Hebden-centric than Happy Valley was, as we filmed a lot around there for this series. It just looks gorgeous on camera, and you get a great sense of place which I think is important in a TV show in order to feel like you really know where you are when you turn it on. It has a very particular atmosphere, and I think you achieve that by being in a specific part of the world.’
Who wrote the songs for Riot Women?
Riot Women features original songs from the band ARXX. Made up of Hanni and Clara, ARXX is a queer power pop duo who jokingly say of their own music style, ‘Imagine Taylor Swift if she only ever listened to Nirvana.’
Will there be a second series of Riot Women?
We've all been asking it after that dramatic turn of events at the end of series one, and it's now been officially confirmed that the coolest middle-aged women around are getting an encore.
Showrunner Sally Wainwright said of the exciting announcement, 'Oh, this is where the fun really starts! We’ve all been so deeply moved by the huge, overwhelming, joyous, emotional response to series one, and now we’re able to take the Riot Women extravaganza onto the next level! We hope you’ll all join us on the series two rollercoaster!'
When does Riot Women air?
The first episode of Riot Women aired Sunday 12 October at 9pm on BBC One.
Where can I watch Riot Women?
As well as watching episodes weekly on BBC One, all episodes of Riot Women will be available on BBC iPlayer from 6am on 12 October.
Daisy Hall became a writer for TVChoice after realising that she could make a career out of her incredible ability to extensively name an actor's credits when they randomly pop up in whatever she's watching. Her friends find it infuriating, but hopefully you find it useful!