There’s a moment in the second season of hit comedy Amandaland when Anne, the unremittingly cheery, kind and supportive Irish mammy-of-four, played by Philippa Dunne, tells the domineering Amanda (Lucy Punch) that the lighting makes her wrinkles look bad. A friend told her she should try being honest for a change, and she’s having a ball going no-filter, advising strangers to change their haircut, and her son to stop being “shite” at football. “I hope you don’t mind me saying this, Anne,” says Amanda, “but friend to friend, you’re being a complete f***ing bitch”.
It’s a deeply funny and cathartic episode for fans of Anne, who is for some the real star of both Amandaland and its predecessor Motherland. Devotees may remember the last time Anne went off on one at Amanda – “You big, blonde, stupid cow!” – after Amanda couldn’t remember her new baby’s name. “Anne is not a total walkover,” nods Dunne, 44, who in-person still has those adorable apple cheeks, but is definitely less guileless than her on-screen persona. “She’s very easy-going and forgiving most of the time, but if she’s pushed, she’s pushed. For an actor, the fact that she does go off the rails now and again, it’s a big draw.”
