Sally Wainwright’s Riot Women: Full cast announced for new BBC series created by Yorkshire award winning writer famed for hit shows Gentleman Jack and Happy Valley
The BBC has announced the cast for Sally Wainwright’s highly anticipated new series Riot Women - the Yorkshire award winning writer is famed for her successful shows Gentleman Jack and Happy Valley.
The multi-BAFTA award winning writer Sally Wainwright, who is from Yorkshire, has created various popular shows set in the region such as Happy Valley, Last Tango in Halifax, Gentleman Jack. She has collaborated with Drama Republic (One Day, Doctor Foster, The English) for the new BBC series which is currently being filmed in West Yorkshire.
The premise of Riot Women centres around five women who, along with two riotous backing singers, unite to create a makeshift punk-rock band in order to enter a local talent competition. But while they are writing their first original song, they soon discover that they have a lot to say - and this is their way to express how they feel.
As the five women juggle demanding jobs, grown-up children, complicated parents, husbands who have abandoned them, and disastrous dates and relationships, the band becomes a trigger for change in their lives, and it will make them question everything.
The six-part series is a testament to the power of friendship, music, and the resilience of women who refuse to be silenced by age or expectation. As the story, which is set in Hebden Bridge, progresses, it is more than music that brings them together; it is a deeply potent, long-buried secret that begins to surface, one that unexpectedly entangles Kitty and Beth, the two unlikely creative masterminds behind the band, in a complex triangle, and threatens to tear everything apart.
Leading the cast and the Riot Women band are Joanna Scanlan (After Love, The Thick of It) as Beth, Rosalie Craig (Moonflower Murders, Serpent Queen) as Kitty, Tamsin Greig (Sexy Beast, The Completely Made Up Adventures of Dick Turpin) as Holly, Lorraine Ashbourne (Sherwood, Alma’s Not Normal) as Jess, and Amelia Bullmore (The Buccaneers, Vienna Blood) as Yvonne.
Anne Reid (The Sixth Commandment) will play Nancy, Holly and Yvonne’s mother, with Sue Johnston (The Royal Family) as Jess’s Aunt Mary. Peter Davison (Doctor Who) and Claire Skinner (Outnumbered) and Angel Coulby (Merlin) also join the cast.
The series will also star Taj Atwal (Line of Duty), Chandeep Uppal (Holby City), Johnny Green (White Lines), Ellise Chappell (Yesterday), Macy Jacob Seelochan (Shadow and Bone), Tony Hirst (Hollyoaks), Shannon Lavelle (Hamlin), Amit Shah (Happy Valley), Rick Warden (Red Eye), Ben Batt (Domina), Natalia Tena (Harry Potter), Melanie La Barrie (& Juliet), Oliver Huntingdon (Sherwood), Richard Fleeshman (The Sandman), Olwen May (A Very British Scandal), Kevin Doyle (Downton Abbey) and Nicholas Gleaves (Bodyguard).
Sally Wainwright, creator, writer, and executive producer said: “I think I am more excited about this than anything else I have ever written. Ever.
“Oh my God. We have five of the most fabulous actresses on the planet playing the Riot Women. It's scarily exciting.”
Drama Republic CEO and executive producer, Roanna Benn, said: “Led by the inimitable and incredible Sally, Riot Women is timely and vital, as well as riotously entertaining and deeply emotional.
“And it stars and is being made by a phenomenal group of women absolutely in their prime! We cannot wait to share it with everyone.”
Director of BBC Drama, Lindsay Salt, said: “We can’t wait for viewers to meet the Riot Women when they arrive on the BBC next year.
“Sally’s scripts are magnificent even by her standards, and it’s no surprise that they’ve attracted such a stellar cast to bring this one-of-a-kind band and their vibrant world to life.”
President of North America and GM BritBox International, Richard Schildhouse, said: “Riot Women is perfectly suited to BritBox - unabashed, unapologetic, and unmistakably British.
“We're thrilled to bring this series from the brilliant Sally Wainwright and this incredible cast to our audiences in North America.”
Riot Women will premiere on BBC iPlayer and BBC One in the UK next year. BritBox International will air the series in the US and Canada.