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| “ | Anne: What's my baby's name, Amanda? Amanda: What? Anne: What's my baby's name? Amanda: Are you saying I don't know your baby's name? Anne: What's my baby's name? Amanda: Stop it, Anne, you sound like a robot. Anne: What's my baby's name? Amanda: I have got an awful lot on my mind right now. Anne: What's my baby's name? Amanda:....something Irishy Anne: What's my baby's name Amanda: You're scaring me, Anne! Anne: What's my baby's name? What's my baby's name?! Amanda: I don't know your baby's name, Anne! Anne: It's Niamh! Amanda: Well, how am I expected to know that? Anne: Because you're her godmother! Amanda: (whispering) Please don't shout at me on my special day. |
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Amanda Hughes is the main antagonist in the 2016 BBC sitcom Motherland. She later became the protagonist in the 2025 spin-off, Amandaland.
She is the self-centered and manipulative leader of the 'Alpha Mums', the parenting elite at Southfield Primary School. She is a mother of two to Manus and Georgie, and the ex-wife of Johnny, from whom she becomes "co-parent" with in series two. She is also the daughter of Felicity Sanderson.
She was portrayed by Lucy Punch, who also played Esmé Squalor in A Series of Unfortunate Events, Lucinda in Into the Woods and Verity Thwaites in St. Trinian's.
Physical appearance[]
Amanda is a tall, Caucasian woman in her late-forties. She is thin and is described as having an attractive body. She has large lips and almond-shaped eyes. She frequently has her eyelash extensions and other cosmetic procedures done to maintain her beauty.
Personality[]
Vain and self-centered, Amanda has an acerbic and exclusive view of the world. She asserts herself as the indomitable leader of the Alpha Mums, and considers herself to have the perfect life. She is conceited and a braggard, and frequently looks down on the other mums for their parenting style, aesthetic style or financial situation.
She shows a vulnerable side, but often spends these moments self-pitying and speaking only about her problems whilst also tying in backhanded compliments or self-adulating remarks.
In Amandaland, Amanda becomes increasingly anxious and delusional of her achievements in life, perpetuated by an ongoing divorce with Johnny.
Biography[]
Background[]
Amanda is the daughter of Felicity Sanderson and her ex-husband. Amanda was privately educated and voted the "most popular girl in the school" after attending for only a few months. Some of Amanda's telling of events can be seen as unreliable due to the fact she frequently lies about her age (suggested at one point to be 52).
She has a difficult relationship with her mother who often favoured her husband, Johnny. Amanda and Johnny have two children, Manus and Georgie. Amanda did not work at the beginning of the series.
Motherland[]
Amanda is seen from afar by Julia Johnstone. Julia, whose main goal in life is to find as much free childcare as possible to focus on work and herself, tries to schmooze Amanda to arrange a childcare arrangement. Impressed with Amanda's wit, she invites Julia to her and her children to have spaghetti bolagnese and wine at her house.
During this interaction, it is clear how much power Amanda has across the other mums, particularly feeble Anne, who is her right-hand.
When Julia arrives, she learns that Amanda had not cooked for the adults and only fed the children. Julia, who had not eaten all day, subtly eats the leftovers which is called out by Amanda in front of everyone, humiliating her. Amanda passive-aggressively offers Julia if she would like her to make an omelette, which further humiliates Julia. Julia's friend, Liz (who had been ostracised by the group under the false belief Liz had slept with another mother's husband) drunkenly demands an omelette as well, and makes Amanda make one for Kevin, a stay-at-home father too.
As revenge for this, Amanda refuses to offer childcare to Julia. Amanda later shows up to a birthday party for Julia's daughter, Ivy. The party had originally been planned as a drop-off to ensure Julia receives childcare in return, but the parents stay. During the party, Amanda snidely criticises the party, stressing Julia out more.
Amanda hosts a fundraiser for a new Yamaha keyboard for the school's music room in the form of an auction of promises. When reading out other's promises, she laps up the limelight and attention she receives from everyone, and mocks those submitted by Liz. During this episode, Manus begins playing with Liz' child, Charlie. Due to Liz' working class background, Amanda snobbishly wipes Manus' hand and anything else that comes into contact with Liz, believing her to be dirty.
At the fundraiser, Amanda is inspired by Uma Thurman's promise of a kiss which raised over $200,000, Amanda does the same. She self-centredly starts the bidding higher than any before. A drunken LIz lowers the bid to 50 pence, and is ultimately accepted as no one else bids. Liz then climbs on stage and kisses Amanda passionately as revenge for her self-believed superiority.
It is then revealed to Kevin by Amanda that she and her husband are struggling in their marriage after he sees them at a marriage counselling session. Amanda tells Kevin they have started having a polyamorous relationship to stow Johnny's insecurity and jealousy, and has become a voyeur once a month. That evening, Anne invites Julia to a bar, and has an afterparty. Amanda learns this is happening from Kevin and, offended at not being invited, arrives. She intimidates Anne and enters the party, where Kevin reveals to the group that Amanda had been having extramarital sex.
After Kevin reveals this, word quickly spirals around the school, leading Amanda to take a low profile. In the second season, Johnny and Amanda have divorced. Amanda meets Meg, a professional mother who she admires and tries to become friends with for her own status. However, Meg immediately realises Amanda is two-faced and social climbing, and rejects her advances.
Amanda starts a business venture bankrolled by Johnny, creating a knick-knack store selling bespoke, pretentious and often useless items called Hygge Tygge. The shop (which Amanda exclusively refers to as her "store") opens, and Amanda enlists in Julia's PR expertise. Julia initially declines the collaboration as Amanda does not fall into Julia's client-base, but Julia begrudgingly offers after she is overheard by Manus criticising the business move by Amanda.
The store receives negative feedback from the public due to it being seen as gentrification of the high-street. A forum for Acton and Chiswick locals decries the store, which Julia, Liz and Kev add to. This results in #ShitShop spreading across the internet, and results in Amanda's store being vandalised. However, in light of the vandalism, Amanda is given news coverage and her store's popularity increases.
Amanda grows increasingly jealous of her new assistant, Lisa, who is much younger than Amanda. Lisa accidentally infers Amanda is old and grows annoyed at her lack of subservience and disobedience, and fires her for getting more attention than she does at Halloween. One weekend, Kevin takes sympathy on Amanda in light of the divorce and invites her and the rest of the mums to a cottage.
There, Amanda's beauty regimen is revealed to take three hours, where she spends most her time blow-drying her hair. At a sports day, Julia learns Amanda's house has been put on the market and that they are having a divorce. On Mother's Day, Amanda meets her mother, Felicity, who is uninterested in Amanda's life and still has love and possible attraction to Johnny. Felicity's lack of interest in Amanda's life seems to have existed since childhood. Amanda grows increasingly upset with her mother and attempts to assert a boundary.
At Christmas, Amanda finds Felicity invited to Johnny's, as well as her children, and begrudgingly attends. She meets Johnny's new parter and tries to remain calm despite the awkwardness of the situation. Amanda hosts another fundraiser which she selfishly doubles as her birthday party. She performs a dance in front of the mother's and admonishes Anne in front of everyone, who reveals Amanda's true age and storms out on her.
Amandaland[]
In the spin-off, Amanda becomes the central character. She moves to South Harlesden (which she refers to as SoHa), and finds Anne again who has also recently moved. The pair reminisce but Amanda ignores Anne, trying to befriend Della Fry (a renowned chef) and her wife, Fi. In doing so, she reluctantly takes psychedelic mushrooms and tries to spit it out. She realises Della and Fi are having an alcohol-included birthday for their 15-year-old daughter, which Amanda abhors. She finds Georgie at the party and takes her home, embarrassing everyone in doing so.
Amanda later attends a car-boot sale, where it is revealed she hoards her memories from her old marriage in Felicity's garage. Amanda tries to sell her items but instead retains most of them due to their sentimental value. Amanda later tries to earn some money after her "Instagram start-up" as a lifestyle aesthetic designer, Senuous, fails to bring her any money. She is successful in getting a sales assistant role in a homeware store, but deceitfully tells her friends that Senuous is in collaboration with the company.
Amanda manipulates Fi to get Della to endorse a product by advising her to buy a kitchen item and take a photo, meaning Amanda is able to push for a more collaborative role in her job rather than work purely in sales. When Della tries to return the item, she learns Amanda works in the role and takes pity on her for feeling the need to lie and desperately romanticise her life since her divorce and moving to South Harlesden.
Amanda begins a relationship with wealthy property developer Johannes, whom she his initially reluctant to date due to her overwhelming life. However, after hearing her mother's caution about losing love in the middle-age, she decides to follow through and introduces him to her children and mother.
Amanda and Johannes' relationship is widely disapproved of by her friends, but their relationship status continues to develop at a rapid pace, resulting in Johannes purchasing Amanda an expensive car, and offering her and her children to move in with him (despite them living on opposite ends of London, and this disrupting Georgie and Manus' schooling).
Amanda takes time consider, and asks Johannes to sponsor a celebration for the children's football team. The party becomes extravagantly pretentious to the chagrin of the other parents who confront Amanda on her pretentiousness and relationship with Johannes. Scorned, Amanda decides to move in with Johannes and tells her mother (who tells Georgie, who is distraught to be leaving South Harlesden). After Johannes embarrasses himself in a drunken frenzy, Amanda reneges on her decision, apologies to her friends (who are still somewhat burned by Amanda) and remains in South Harlesden.
Quotes[]
| “ | Amanda: Oh, I guess I may as well just go home then. Anne: Unless you want to man the bar? Amanda: (sarcastically) Yeah, that's what I want to be doing, serving own-brand spirits behind a bloody trestle table on my birthday. I mean, look at me. Anne: (frustrated) You said you didn't want to celebrate. Amanda: I didn't, but come on. This is it? Anne: (looking at Niamh) Baby needs feeding and I haven't even done the bins. Amanda: Oh, God. Why'd you even bring it? Anne: It? Amanda: Him. Anne: Her. Amanda: Her then. Anne: Well you'd know she was a girl if you even bothered to learn her name. |
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| ~ The beginning of Anne and Amanda's argument. |
| “ | Is it your special day or not? Because I'm here on my own doing everything and I haven't even had a chance to drop the baby home so I can have my one night out on the town on top of organising a whole surprise party for a 39th birthday that you seem to want one moment but not the next, and I wouldn't mind, you're not even 39, you're 41! You big, blonde, stupid cow! | „ |
| ~ Anne's final remarks to Amanda in Motherland, finally standing up to her narcissism and self-centredness. |
Trivia[]
- A running gag is the ambiguity over Amanda's age. Amanda mostly claims to be in her thirties - celebrating her supposedly 39th birthday in the season three finale. However, Anne points out during a heated exchange that Amanda is instead 41. Anne had also previously stated that Amanda is 42, 40 and 45.