A new British drama hit PBS on recent Sunday nights, but it took me a while to get around to reviewing Funny Woman (2023), more due to Snark Week and my own schedule than anything about the show itself. Besides, I suspect few of you are watching telly on broadcast, U.K. folks saw this last year, and the whole six-part series is now available on the PBS app and for rent on Amazon. So it’s out there!
Gemma Arterton stars as Barbara, a 1964 Blackpool beauty queen who heads to London in search of fame and fortune, eventually as a comedic actress with the stage name of Sophie Straw. The story is based on Nick Hornby’s 2014 novel, so no, it’s not a British The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel in any way. This is a fairly straightforward “girl goes to big city to become a star” story.
I have a small quibble with casting Gemma Arterton as the supposedly young naive girl from the north because Arterton is in her mid-30s, and the script seems to want the character to be 19 or 20. This isn’t a looks thing but more of the character does some things that come off dumb in someone who otherwise acts with a level of maturity. Looking over the actor’s resume, I could see her playing this role more naive back when she did Tess of the D’Urbervilles (2008) — at that point, she really got the “country girl’s first experience” thing. But by the time she’s played Vita Sackville-West in Vita & Virginia (2018), she knows too much to act so clueless. There’s a depth and darkness there that now make this character’s actions seem off for the first few episodes.
Or it could be that the script relies on a lot of coincidences / bad timing as plot points! Like after Barbara gets sexually assaulted is how she runs into an agent who gets her cast in a TV role, and every time something good happens for her in London, something bad happens to her family back in Blackpool. That sort of lazy writing doesn’t help things along.
And yet, I kept watching. Despite these faults, there’s some clever dialog and sassy set pieces. I do love a behind-the-scenes of making theater / TV story, and the writers for the TV show Barbara lands in are an amusing bunch. Watching the group write and rewrite scenes reminded me of my brief stint in a comedy troupe. That felt realistic and enjoyable.
By episode four, the plot takes a turn, and the mood overall get less blithe and simple. I rather wish some of the hijinks of the first three eps had been condensed so we could fast-forward to the more complicated storylines in the later eps. The secondary characters get expanded all of a sudden, the show dips into period subcultures and gender and racial attitudes. It’s quite a shift that makes the story more believable. Just a little late!
Costume designer Pam Downe has done a lot of movies and TV shows, from season 2 of The Spanish Princess to Mr. Malcolm’s List to the latest Doctor Who specials. Fashions of early 1960s Britain is a pretty low difficulty setting, and it all looks proper here. Barbara’s hair is usually big and bouffant, and scenes with curlers and hairpieces are included, so we get a glimpse into the accurately done styles.
When Barbara first sees her proposed costume for the TV show, she protests that it makes her look like a bimbo and it’s not realistic for her role as a house cleaner. So she suggests a simpler, more practical outfit of a buttoned-up sweater and capri pants.
I feel like this is an echo of Mary Tyler Moore’s idea that her character of Laura Petrie in The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961-66) should wear pants because that was more realistic for a modern housewife than the full-skirted dresses, high heels, and pearls that women had been shown cooking, cleaning, and taking care of their children on TV up till then.
Moore got her way, even though a major advertiser complained. Dunno if there was a similar problem in the U.K., although this show touches on other 1960s TV controversies. The finale episode does one last coinkidink turn, and Funny Woman has been renewed for a second season, so who knows where the story will go from there.
Have you given Funny Woman a chance?
Find this frock flick at:
I watched a few of these and then got bored, but if it takes a more serious or interesting turn midway through, maybe I’ll finish it after all.