What does a ‘normal family’ even look like?

‘We just have to pretend that we’re a normal, loving family. How long for?’
Just a couple of the many excellent and very quotable lines from the brilliant comedy series Alma’s Not Normal (which is the focus of this post, btw). Alma’s Not Normal stars (and was created by) Bafta winner Sophie Willan (who many may know from her memorable and hilarious stint on the most recent series of Taskmaster). The first season was released in 2020 and as season two is due to come out later this year (very exciting), I thought I’d take this opportunity to hype up Sophie Willan and the show as I’ve not seen that many people talking about it, which feels wrong as it really is 'bloody fabulous'.
The show follows the life of the titular Alma and is based on a lot of Willan’s real life experiences of growing up in care in/around Bolton and being looked after by her Grandma because of her mother’s drug problem. The cast in general is incredible as, along with Willan, it also stars Jayde Adams (from the 2022 series of Strictly Come Dancing), Lorraine Ashbourne (who recently appeared in Bridgerton) and Siobhan Finneran (who’s been in Benidorm, Rita, Sue and Bob Too and the truly wonderful Inside No.9). 

 Given the nature of the premise (or a major part of the premise, at least), Alma’s Not Normal deals with a lot of complex and difficult topics, such as abuse, the patriarchy, addiction, austerity, mental health, sex work and generational trauma. However, due to Willan’s comic timing, her skill as a writer/actor, tangible love of the arts and creativity and how she draws from her real life experiences, it’s always just proper laugh out loud funny and deals with these topics as well as anything I've ever seen. It’s important to note though, that it’s not done in a way that punches down at all as she’s not afraid to confront the seriousness of these topics and doesn’t romanticise or shy away from depicting the harsh realities of the situation. Despite this though, the show is actually (at times) really joyful and fun (I promise) and has so much heart and depth and a lot of hope despite the many challenges that Alma and her family face. The calibre of the actors also really helps to convey the genuine emotion in the meaningful scenes as they make it feel so authentic and so much like actual people that you could meet and/or have in your own family. This is all just to say that it’s a pretty amazing show and I really recommend it if you haven’t seen it, it’s so worth a watch. I mean, obviously humour is subjective and everything, but if it doesn’t make you laugh and at times have a little cry, then I don’t know what to tell you. Hope everyone’s doing ok.

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