Motherland, review: the fashion for 'depth' hasn't changed this sublime comedy - yet

When a comedy is a hit and is then granted a second and a third series, it always faces a quandary. Does it stick – mine the same seam with the same set-up, jokes and characters that audiences love – or does it twist: change a winning formula. It used to be a cast-iron rule in sitcom that no matter what happened in any given episode, by the end of the episode nothing had really changed. Basil Fawlty remained Basil Fawlty; no one "learns" anything.

But sitcom isn’t fashionable at the moment, whereas comedies with depth and meaning like Catastrophe or Fleabag are. As such, Motherland (BBC Two), which began as a hilarious sitcom about a group of parents failing badly, is now trying to add some layers.

Whether or not this is a wise idea, the show remains very funny, which is the most important thing. Last night’s opener was about the apocalyptic horror of an outbreak of nits at school. There was a neat misdirection gag at the beginning where the headteachers appeared to be briefing parents on a coronavirus outbreak, only for it to turn out to be a headlice incident (“There is some indication that the nit curve has plateaued. Next slide please.”)

The story of the episode was of Julia’s (Anna Maxwell Martin) shame at being unmasked as the superspreader who failed to treat her child’s hair. She then tried to make amends with a "Nit Blitz" party hosted by the "Lice Po-Lice." Everyone spent the whole episode wandering around looking like someone had poured tar on their heads.

If you have or have had young children all of this – the repulsive anti-nit goop that stains pillows; the agony of seeing your child scratching their head as you approach the school gates; the temptation to keep quiet because you have work to do - will have been hideously close to the bone. It’s the type of scalpel-sharp observational comedy that has made the best episodes of Motherland some of the best episodes of any comedy of the last few years.

But it is, essentially, still the same joke – what addled parents will stoop to in fear and desperation – and the writers, Holly Walsh, Helen Serafinowicz and Barunka O'Shaughnessy, know it. This is presumably why they have tried to add some subplots and emotional heft to the gags about the horrors of playdates. Last night stay-at-home Dad Kevin (Paul Ready) was served with divorce papers, we got another glimpse at Liz’s (Diane Morgan) horrid ex and high-flying party girl Meg (Tanya Moodie) ended the episode with the shock announcement that she is seriously ill.

The idea was to flesh out characters that we have come to know and love over several series, and it was all carried off very well thanks to a strong, well-grooved ensemble (it’s hard to believe it was only a fortnight ago Anna Maxwell Martin was DCI Carmichael in Line of Duty).

But shifting a comedy from frenetic to bittersweet is a hazardous endeavour. One, it leaves less time for jokes and two, adopting a more pensive tone casts the rest of the show in a different light. The closing scene of last night’s episode had all of the characters actually saying that their various worries – “nits, phonics, how much Netflix I let my kids watch” as Liz put it – weren’t that important when set against real tragedy like Meg’s illness.

That’s true, but exaggerating the importance of the ultimately trivial has always been the source of much of Motherland’s humour. Let’s hope they don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.