Why Hullraisers should be your next box set
David Farnor | On 14, Apr 2022
In a week where Taskmaster and Derry Girls both return to our screens, it’d be all too easy for a new comedy series to be drowned out by the heavyweights. That, you suspect, won’t happen to Hullraisers, a hilarious new series that bursts onto the screen with all the confidence of a show that’s been running for years.
Lucy Beaumont (Meet the Richardsons), Anne-Marie O’Connor (Trollied, Mum) and Caroline Moran (Raised By Wolves) are behind the show, which is based on the hit Israeli series Little Mom, and the trio have given this UK remake a voice, style and humour that’s all its own. Set unmistakably in the city of Hull, it’s the kind of authentic and heartfelt portrayal of working-class life that has made Sky’s Brassic such a charming success, able to celebrate and acknowledge the ups and downs of life, without looking down on any of its characters.
And so we meet Toni (Leah Brotherhead), a would-be actor and mother of 4-year-old Leah who loves her husband, Craig, but still longs for the excitement of her wild youth. She’s joined by Rana (Taj Atwal), a police officer who has never met an attractive man she wouldn’t try to pull, and Paula (Sinead Matthews), Tony’s older sister who’s more grounded than the pair of them.
Their friendship is at once convincing and real, and it’s a joy to follow them through the everyday effort of juggling kids, work, family and their own sense of selves, whether it’s skipping out on school activities to go to the pub, flirting at funerals or having The Talk with a teenage daughter. Acerbic, warm and witty, don’t be surprised if this gets renewed before you finish Season 1 – which won’t be long, given that the whole box set is on All 4.