Chasing the Mother Load

I've wanted to write a script about parenting for a long time. It's such a singular, yet relatable experience. So when my agent suggested I come up with a TV idea that leans heavily on my own experiences as a mum, I thought, why not?

VENGEFUL MOTHERS is a TV comedy drama about three broke single mothers who move in together and plot to extort money from their enemies with increasingly hazardous consequences…

The inspiration for the show initially came from my own hilarious, awful, wonderful experiences of early motherhood. In a hurricane of bodily brokenness and near-total sleep deprivation, I felt a loss of identity, self-hood and (occasionally) sanity, acute stress on my career, friendships and relationships, and the more intense, all consuming joy and love it’s humanly possible to feel. It felt like fertile ground for drama.

Even before I became a parent, I have always been interested in the specific experience of being a mother. Back in 2018, I made a short experimental documentary called ‘MOTHER’S DAY’ which combined interviews with new mums about the more challenging aspects of the role, intercut with ‘beauty’ footage of the women and their babies, taking them outside of their parenting roles as they discuss their new reality with startling honesty.

My first script commission was about a female MMA fighter and NHS nurse who has two children, and the story delves into her struggle with balancing parenthood and career. I wrote the first draft of the script when my daughter was three months old, and since exploring those ideas in the MMA script I have wanted to dive deeper into what it means to be a mother, how friendships with other parents develop, and how romantic relationships are affected.
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My hope is that whilst being entertaining, comedic and at times a little camp, this show will expose with searing honestly the often unseen hardships of early parenthood, and that this will be relatable for those who have been through it themselves (and smugly hilarious for those who haven’t.)