Alma's Not Normal
BBC programme image showing show logo and the cast (Nicholas Asbury, Sophie Willan, Siobhan Finneran and Lorraine Ashbourne)
GenreComedy
Written bySophie Willan
Directed byAndrew Chaplin
Starring
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series1
No. of episodes6
Production
Executive producerSophie Willan
Running time30 minutes
Original release
NetworkBBC Two
Release7 April 2020 (2020-04-07) –
present

Alma's Not Normal is a British sitcom first broadcast as a pilot episode on BBC Two in April 2020. The series follows the eponymous Alma, from Bolton, as she tries to give her life meaning and the "fabulous" outcome she has always dreamed of, while coping with the strained relationships of her family that saw her spend time in care, something else which she is trying to reconcile. The series is written by and stars Sophie Willan and is inspired by her own experiences of the care system.

Willan won the 2021 BAFTA Television award for best comedy writer for the pilot episode.[1] A full six episode series was commissioned for broadcast in 2021. A second series was commissioned in 2022.[2]

Background

Willan wrote the first draft around 2014 on the back of the austerity measures of the Cameron Government, that Willan says "felt really negative for welfare recipients, mental health [care] and social services recipients – people like my mother, people who’ve had difficulties."[1] As Laura Minor argues, "Alma's Not Normal provides commentary on the gendered and classed impacts of austerity in the North."[3]

Willan won the BBC's Caroline Aherne Bursary in 2017 which awarded her £5000 to develop her ideas along with mentorship from the BBC's Comedy Commissioning Editor, Kate Daughton, to develop a script.[4] The script was performed as a rehearsed reading in front of an invited audience including Controller of BBC Two, Patrick Holland. Willan was given a commission for a pilot on the spot.[5] Wilan wrote the script for the first series of the show during the COVID-19 pandemic.[1]

Cast and characters

  • Sophie Willan as Alma Nuthall – Alma is a working-class aspiring actress in her thirties who has recently been through a break-up. She spent some of her childhood in care and works as an escort, having left school without qualifications.
  • Jayde Adams as Leanne, Alma's confident and sexually promiscuous best friend and main confidant of the series. Alma describes Leanne as having the “raw sex appeal of Debbie Harry but the mannerisms of a truck driver.”
  • Siobhan Finneran as Lin Nuthall – Alma's mother Lin struggles with mental health issues and a heroin addiction that meant she was unable to look after Alma during childhood, and she has a troubled relationship with Alma in adulthood.
  • Lorraine Ashbourne as Joan Nuthall – Joan is Lin's mother and Alma's grandmother. She raised Alma as a child when Lin was unable to. Alma regularly visits Joan as an adult.
  • James Baxter as Anthony, Alma's ex-boyfriend.
  • Maizie Wickson as Young Alma
  • Nicholas Asbury as Jim
  • Dave Johns as Bill
  • Katie Redford as Jane
  • Dave Spikey as Ian, a drama teacher
  • Sue Vincent as Trish

Episodes

SeriesEpisodesOriginally airedAve. UK viewers
(millions)[6]
First airedLast aired
P17 April 2020 (2020-04-07)TBA
1613 September 2021 (2021-09-13)18 October 2021 (2021-10-18)TBA

Pilot (2020)

No. in
series		Title [7]Directed by [7]Written by [7]Original release date [7]BBC Two broadcast [7]U.K viewers
(millions) [6]
Pilot"Alma's Not Normal"Andrew ChaplinSophie Willan7 April 2020 (2020-04-07)7 April 2020N/A (<1.66)[lower-alpha 1]
  1. ↑ Not reported in the weekly top 15 programmes for four-screen viewer ratings.

Series 1 (2021)

Episode one is the pilot episode, renamed as Feng Suey.

No.
overall		No. in
series		Title [7]Directed by [7]Written by [7]Original release date [7]BBC Two broadcast [7]U.K viewers
(millions) [6]
11"Feng Suey"Andrew ChaplinSophie Willan13 September 2021 (2021-09-13)13 September 20211.08
Alma cycles to a job centre where she wishes to seek employment but is specific about the type of job she wants to do. Carol the job centre worker forces her to apply for sandwich shop Sub'N'Go but Alma is less than keen. Alma visits her friend Leanne at the cafe to discuss her ex-boyfriend Anthony owing her money and leaving her for a younger girlfriend. Alma plans to visit Anthony to get money off him but they end up having sex. Alma visits her heroin addict mum Lin and convinces her grandmother Joan to reconnect with her after five years. Alma decides to apply for an escort agency.
22"Ruby"Andrew ChaplinSophie Willan13 September 2021 (2021-09-13)20 September 2021N/A
Alma's job at Sub'n'Go doesn't work out and she begins work as an escort.
33"The Richard Gere"Andrew ChaplinSophie Willan13 September 2021 (2021-09-13)27 September 2021N/A
Alma attempts to reconcile Lin and Joan at an upmarket restaurant.
44"Boom and Bust"Andrew ChaplinSophie Willan13 September 2021 (2021-09-13)4 October 2021N/A
Joan reluctantly lets Lin move back in with her as her section has ended.
55"On Record"Andrew ChaplinSophie Willan13 September 2021 (2021-09-13)11 October 2021N/A
Alma receives her care records from the council, and wins an acting part after a successful audition.
66"Sticking With You"Andrew ChaplinSophie Willan13 September 2021 (2021-09-13)18 October 2021N/A
Alma and Joan abandon Lin after she relapses into heroin. Alma decides to follow her dreams as an actress.

Reception

In her four star review of the pilot episode broadcast in 2020, Lucy Mangan in The Guardian praised the fine cast and the "swiftly and surely drawn characters" and commented on the episode's "emotional undertow, that, with perfect timing, surfaces to punch the viewer in the stomach and leave them breathless with sorrow". The episode was summed up as a bleak, brilliant comedy that was far from ordinary.[8] Writing in Chortle, Steve Bennett praised the episode for the way that it introduced "a cast of intriguing, sympathetic characters we’d like to hear more from" praising them for being "complex, authentic people portrayed in a way we don’t usually see on television". He praised the "universally strong performances" of the cast and the humanity of the characters bringing lightness to what could have been a bleak set of subject matter.[9]

The Daily Mirror's Ian Hyland called it ‘Phoenix Nights meets Fleabag, guided by the spirit of Victoria Wood’ adding that the pilot convinced him "that BBC2 has a massive gem on its hands".[10]

Ben Dowell of The Times said, ‘Willan's writing is skilled and clearly very personal...uplifting and strangely enchanting’.[11]

Awards

In April 2021, Willan won the Comedy Writer BAFTA for the pilot episode.[12] The 2021 series won the award for best comedy programme at the Royal Television Society North West Awards.[13]

Year Award CategoryNominee(s) ResultRef.
2021 British Academy Television Craft Awards Best Writer: Comedy Sophie Willan Won [14]
Royal Television Society Awards Comedy Performance - Female Sophie Willan Nominated [15]
2022 Broadcast Awards Best Comedy Programme Alma's Not Normal Won [16]
British Academy Television Awards Best Female Comedy Performance Sophie Willan Won [17]
Best Scripted Comedy Alma's Not Normal Nominated [18]
Writer: Comedy Sophie Willan Nominated [19]
Broadcasting Press Guild Awards Best Comedy Alma's Not Normal Won [20]
Royal Television Society Awards Comedy Performance - Female Sophie Willan Nominated [21]
Scripted Comedy Alma's Not Normal Won [22]
Royal Television Society Craft & Design Awards Director - Comedy Drama & Situation Comedy Andrew Chaplin Won [23]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "'I went to school drunk in a bikini': how Sophie Willan turned her chaotic life into sitcom gold". the Guardian. 6 September 2021.
  2. ↑ "Award-winning Alma's Not Normal to return for second series on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer".
  3. ↑ Minor, Laura (2023). "Alma's (Not) Normal: Normalising Working-Class Women in/on BBC TV Comedy" (PDF). Journal of British Cinema and Television. 20 (2): 137–161. doi:10.3366/jbctv.2023.0665. S2CID 257976932.
  4. ↑ "Bolton comedian Sophie Willan wins Caroline Aherne Bursary". bbc.com.
  5. ↑ "Alma's Not Normal". bbc.com.
  6. 1 2 3 "Four Screen Dashboard (See relevant channel and week(s))". BARB.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "Ghosts – Episode guide". BBC One. Choose appropriate episode. Retrieved 2 May 2019.
  8. ↑ "Alma's Not Normal review – this bleak, brilliant comedy is far from ordinary". the Guardian. 7 April 2020.
  9. ↑ Bennett, Steve. "Alma's Not Normal : Reviews 2020 : Chortle : The UK Comedy Guide". www.chortle.co.uk.
  10. ↑ "Ian Hyland - On last night's telly". The Mirror. 8 April 2020.
  11. ↑ "The Times". What’s on TV and radio tonight: Tuesday, April 7.
  12. ↑ "Bafta TV Awards 2021: Winners and nominees in full". BBC News. 6 June 2021.
  13. ↑ Bourne, Dianne (21 November 2021). "Corrie's Sally Carman flooded with praise as she wins RTS Award". Manchester Evening News. Retrieved 22 November 2021.
  14. ↑ "BAFTA TV 2021: The Winners and Nominations for the Virgin Media British Academy Television Awards and British Academy Television Craft Awards". 28 April 2021.
  15. ↑ "RTS Programme Awards 2021". 23 October 2020.
  16. ↑ "Winners". Broadcast Awards 2022. Retrieved 14 March 2022.
  17. ↑ "BAFTA Television 2022: The Winners". 29 March 2022.
  18. ↑ "BAFTA Television 2022: The Winners". 29 March 2022.
  19. ↑ "BAFTA Television 2022: The Winners". 29 March 2022.
  20. ↑ "2022". 2 April 2022.
  21. ↑ "RTS Programme Awards 2022". 21 October 2021.
  22. ↑ "RTS Programme Awards 2022". 21 October 2021.
  23. ↑ "RTS Craft & Design Awards 2022". 5 December 2022.
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