Riot Women

“Sally Wainwright’s return to terrestrial TV after the shattering end to Happy Valley in 2023 was always going to have to meet a high bar. With Riot Women, the tale of a west Yorkshire punk band made up entirely of angry women, it’s fair to say she’s left that bar several miles below her.”
Julia Raeside, The i

“Sally Wainwright’s Riot Women started with a dramatic punch to the face and kept up the raucously high energy of a pneumatic jackhammer until the end of the episode. It’s hard to think of anyone better to write about unapologetic, wall-kicking, midlife female rage.”
Carol Midgley, The Times

“A rich and moreish stew that is offered up in generous portions. Like all Wainwright’s best work, Riot Women covers a lot of ground without getting bogged down or leaving the viewer feeling shortchanged.”
Lucy Mangan, The Guardian

“In its setup, Riot Women feels a bit obvious. These women, abandoned by their husbands and children, reclaiming their voices through music. But Wainwright has always known how to take a simple story – an interfamily saga or a cop drama – and tell it so dynamically, so charismatically, that it is elevated. Like its characters, Riot Women takes its time to come into its own – but, when it does, it is full-throated and glorious.”
Nick Hilton, The Independent

“Riot Women is a raucous, messy charge through midlife with a bunch of female friends who are bubbling with rage at the injustices of the patriarchy. If you’re allergic to feminism, this drama isn’t for you. But it’s possible Ms Wainwright’s contempt for the male sex is mellowing. True, all of the men in this opening episode were either spineless, witless, selfish or duplicitous cheats. But so far, none of them has turned out to be a psychotic rapist, so that’s an improvement on much of her previous work.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“Riot Women, a new drama from Happy Valley creator Sally Wainwright, is unsparing about middle age and the menopause. All of its female characters are quietly heroic. There are few men in it, and the ones that do appear are awful. A female character sums up how we’re supposed to feel about them when she clambers atop her ex’s sports car, smashes the windscreen with a mallet and spray-paints in massive red letters: ‘TW-TMOBILE’. It’s crashingly unsubtle, and the mark of a drama that’s all over the place.”
Anita Singh, The Telegraph