Funny Woman | |
---|---|
Genre | |
Based on | Funny Girl by Nick Hornby |
Written by | Morwenna Banks |
Directed by | Oliver Parker |
Starring | |
Composer | Nainita Desai |
Country of origin | United Kingdom |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 1 |
No. of episodes | 6 |
Production | |
Executive producers |
|
Cinematography | Matthew Wicks |
Running time | 46–47 minutes |
Original release | |
Network | Sky Max |
Release | 9 February 2023 – present |
Funny Woman is a British drama television series directed by Oliver Parker and adapted for the screen by Morwenna Banks from the best-selling novel Funny Girl by Nick Hornby. It stars Gemma Arterton with an ensemble cast including Tom Bateman, David Threlfall, and Rupert Everett. The first series began airing on Sky Max on 9 February 2023 with all six episodes available on Now. [1] [2] In August, it was renewed for a second series. [3]
The series follows Barbara Parker (stage name Sophie Straw), a Blackpool beauty queen who becomes a comedy star in the male-dominated sitcom industry in 1960s London.
The show includes fictionalized portrayals of personalities from the period including Frankie Howerd (Robert Forknall), Eleanor Bron (Emma Humpston), Val Doonican (Mike Prior), Spike Milligan (Alexander Jonas) and John Fortune (Nathan Chatelier).
Sixty-nine percent of critics reviews for Funny Woman are positive on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. [4] It received mixed reviews in the press on the grounds that the title caused some to believe it was intended as a comedy rather than a drama about a comedy actress. This led to reviews of a "mediocre" and "uneven" series. [5] [6] Meanwhile, Funny Woman received three-, four- and five-star reviews from other reviewers, including The Guardian , who considered Arterton's performance "absolutely captivating", and The Independent , who felt "this show feels like a warm hug" with a "plucky, bold heroine". [7] [8] The Upcoming praised Arterton's "flirtatious, witty and charismatic" performance and considered Funny Woman "fast, fluid and incredibly clever". [9]
Tamsin Morwenna Banks is a British actress, comedian, writer, and producer. She appeared in the Channel 4 comedy sketch show Absolutely, and wrote, produced, and appeared in the British ensemble film The Announcement. She voices Mummy Pig, Madame Gazelle and Dr Hamster in the children's series Peppa Pig. She adapted Nick Hornby's novel Funny Girl for Sky Max and is a writer on Slow Horses for Apple TV+.
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Jessica Swale is a British playwright, theatre director and screenwriter. Her first play, Blue Stockings, premiered at Shakespeare's Globe in 2013. It is widely performed by UK amateur companies and is also studied on the Drama GCSE syllabus. In 2016, her play Nell Gwynn won the Olivier Award for Best New Comedy, after it transferred from the Globe to the West End, starring Gemma Arterton as the eponymous heroine. She also wrote and directed the feature film Summerland (2020).
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Hannah Jane Arterton is an English actress and singer. She attended Gravesend Grammar School for Girls and graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 2011. She has most notably appeared in the television series The Five (2016) and Safe (2018), and in the film Walking on Sunshine (2014).
Funny Girl is a 2014 novel by the British writer Nick Hornby. The book was adapted for television as Funny Woman, broadcast by Sky Max in 2023 starring Gemma Arterton.
Agatha Raisin is a British comedy-drama television series, based on M. C. Beaton's book series of the same name about a former PR agent who solves crime mysteries in the Cotswolds village of Carsely.
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