Amandaland Stars Snubbed at BAFTA TV Awards

Despite recently being hailed as a 'comedy icon' in Amandaland series two, leading star Lucy Punch was among the 'snubs' at the  TV Awards on Sunday night.

The British star was up for the Best Actress in a Comedy for her incredible performance in series one of the hit show. 

However, Lucy failed to win the award along with co-stars  and Philippa Dunne, who were in the same category. 

Rounding out the category was Diane Morgan (Mandy), Rosie Jones (Pushers) and overall winner Katherine Parkinson, for her performance in Here We Go. 

Fans took to X to share their shock as one shared a meme saying she's 'ignoring the verdict' while others claimed the three actresses were 'robbed'. 

They wrote: 'Three iconic women from Amandaland nominated for best comedy actress, plus OG Motherland actress Diane Morgan and none of them won?! Robbery I tell you; 

'It should have been Philippa Dunne, her character of Anne in #Amandaland is very funny and she's particularly good in this second series. #BaftaTV #Baftas;

'Should've been Lucy Punch but I think the winners are determined by a small jury so it could've gone to anyone really;

Despite the leading actresses being snubbed in the category, Amandaland went on to win Best Scripted Comedy. 

The BBC series follows the demise of Motherland's snooty Queen Bee Amanda, who has moved from a lavish life in well-to-do Chiswick to becoming a single mother in the less-than-desirable South Harlesden - which she christens 'SoHa'.

After winning the best scripted comedy, writer Holly Walsh said she loved when people said they watched the show with their children.

She said: 'We can all enjoy watching a posh woman from Chiswick getting hit in the face with a football.'

The hit show, which series two has been branded as a 'triumph' and the 'best sitcom by a mile', beat Big Boys, How Are You? Its Alan (Partridge) and Things You Should Have Done.

gong beating her co-star Erin Doherty, who previously took home the and Award.  

Lucy Punch played the character in all three seasons of the original show Motherland before bringing Amanda back to life in January last year followed by a  special, all of which won enormous praise for the thigh-slapping antics of the character. 

Following Thursday's return, critics swarmed to praise the show as the Daily Mail and the Telegraph gave it five stars, saying: 'This show is bursting with invention, so full of possibilities that it crams three or four sources of fun into half an hour.'

Lucy's performance was lavished with praise although her mother Felicity, played by Joanna Lumley, and Philippa Dunne, who stars as downtrodden Anne, were deemed 'magnetic' and 'sterling' as her supporting characters. 

Series two sees attention-hungry Amanda has found her metier as an online influencer. It doesn't matter that, since she doesn't have any followers, she's not actually influencing anyone. She has a lifestyle brand and 'it's all she needs'.

Reviewers have likened the character to comedy icons The Office's David Brent and Steve Coogan's legendary Alan Partridge in their cringeworthy lack of self-awareness, arrogance and poorly-hidden deep insecurities. 

On the subject, The Guardian's Rachel Aroesti writes: 'Amanda slots neatly into a lineage of British comedy icons; file her next to the delusional, narcissistic, indefatigable likes of Alan Partridge and David Brent.'

The Independent's Katie Rosseinsky joined in the praise, with four stars: 'It’s relatively straightforward comic fodder, but the jokes are sharp and sometimes unexpectedly dark enough to puncture the cosiness (“Have you been DBS checked?” Amanda’s colleague at her “co-lab” asks her, before she promptly spits back: “Women can’t be paedophiles, Daniel!”). 

'And Punch, with her huge smile and doe eyes, manages to make even Amanda’s absurdities and insecurities endearing.'

Huw Fullerton for Radio Times writes: 'That aside, this second series is a comedy triumph; a winning confluence of characters, plotting and gag-writing that makes a sitcom worth returning to..

'Whether you see yourself in Amanda, her friends, her mum or her kids – or none of them at all – it’s the kind of slick, relatable "content" that Amanda’s feed could only dream of hosting.'