Riot Women is a new BBC1 drama about five menopausal women who form a punk rock band, and the secret that could tear their lives apart. It's a six-part drama from Doctor Foster producers Drama Republic.
Created by Happy Valley and Gentleman Jack writer Sally Wainwright and formerly called Hot Flush, this dram is once again set in Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire (where Happy Valley was filmed), if follows the lives of a group of women who jokingly create a makeshift butt-of-the-joke punk-rock band to enter a talent contest. However, set against the backdrop of coping with demanding jobs, children, dependent parents, husbands who have let them down and the menopause, the band becomes an outlet, giving them a voice and forcing them to question everything in their lives. But a long-buried secret could ruin them all. The cast for the exciting drama has yet to be announced but we’ll update this page in due course.
Sally Wainwright says: “I've been wanting to write a series like this for a long time. It's a celebration of women of a certain age, and all the life-stuff they suddenly find themselves negotiating/dealing with. The show is also my own personal homage to Rock Follies of '77, and the feisty Little Ladies who woke me up to what I wanted to do with my life when I was 13."
Here’s everything you need to know about the BBC1 drama series Riot Women…
Riot Women release date
The six-part drama series Riot Women will air on BBC1 and BBCiPlayer probably in 2025. As soon as we hear of a date, we’ll let you know on this page.
Riot Women plot
Riot Women will follow five women who, along with two riotous backing singers, come together to create a makeshift punk-rock band in order to enter a local talent contest, but in writing their first original song, they soon discover that they have a lot to say - and this is their way to say it.
As they juggle demanding jobs, grown-up children, complicated parents, husbands who’ve buggered off, and disastrous dates and relationships, the band becomes a catalyst for change in their lives, and it’s going to make them question everything.
As they deal with the pressures of work, grown-up children, elderly parents, useless husbands and the menopause, the band becomes a catalyst for change. However, it’s more than just music that binds them and Kitty and Beth, the unlikely creative masterminds behind the band, share a secret that threatens everything.
Riot Women cast
There's a great cast for Riot Women. In the band are Joanna Scanlan (The Larkins, After Love, The Thick of It) as Beth, Rosalie Craig (Moonflower Murders, Serpent Queen) as Kitty, Tamsin Greig (Sexy Beast, The Completely Made Up Adventures of Dick Turpin) as Holly, Lorraine Ashbourne (Sherwood, Alma's Not Normal) as Jess, and Amelia Bullmore (The Buccaneers, Vienna Blood) as Yvonne.
Anne Reid (The Sixth Commandment) will play Nancy, Holly and Yvonne’s mother, with Sue Johnston (The Royle Family) as Jess’s Aunt Mary. Peter Davison (Doctor Who) and Claire Skinner (Outnumbered) and Angel Coulby (Merlin) also join the cast.
The series will also star Taj Atwal (Line of Duty), Chandeep Uppal (Holby City), Jonny Green (White Lines), Ellise Chappell (Yesterday), Macy Jacob Seelochan (Shadow and Bone), Tony Hirst (Hollyoaks), Shannon Lavelle (Hamlin), Amit Shah (Happy Valley), Rick Warden (Red Eye), Ben Batt (Domina), Natalia Tena (Harry Potter), Melanie La Barrie (& Juliet), Oliver Huntingdon (Sherwood), Richard Fleeshman (The Sandman), Olwen May (A Very British Scandal), Kevin Doyle (Downton Abbey) and Nicholas Gleaves (Bodyguard).
Is there a trailer for Riot Women?
Not yet but it’s early days. When the BBC releases a trailer, we’ll post it on here. As the 1977 drama Rock Follies inspired writer Sally, here's a clip of that show to enjoy below...
Behind the scenes and more on Riot Women
Riot Women is written and executive produced by Sally Wainwright while Roanna Benn (Doctor Foster, My Mad Fat Diary, Pure) is the executive producer for Drama Republic and the producer is Clare Shepherd (The A Word, Viewpoint, Kidnapped).
Riot Women will feature original songs from the band ARXX.
Roanna Benn, executive producer, says: "I am truly over the moon to be working with the amazing Sally on her new show for the BBC. In Riot Women Sally has found a unique way to explore and celebrate female friendships that is bold, vital and true. In inimitable Sally-style, Riot Women introduces us to brilliant and unforgettable characters; it is so funny, and simultaneously so full of drama, it will have you laughing and sitting on the edge of your seat. This is a show about the women who hold up modern Britain, their stories urgently need to be told, and who better than Sally Wainwright to do that."
Lindsay Salt, Director of BBC Drama, says: "We’re so excited to have the magnificent Sally Wainwright back writing on the BBC, with the brilliant Drama Republic team producing. Hot Flush is a sharply observed, vibrant and vital story of five very different women at the same stage in their lives, joined together by their love of music. But that’s just the start and - as you’d expect from Sally — there are twists and turns aplenty to keep viewers enthralled."
All about Sally Wainwright
Writer, director and producer Sally Wainwright has had a phenomenal career, with a successful stint on British soap Coronation Street. She is the creator of hit shows such as Happy Valley, Gentleman Jack, Last Tango in Halifax, Unforgiven and Scott and Bailey. She wrote the 2024 Disney Plus series Renegade Nell and created the show At Home with the Braithwaites. She started her career as a scriptwriter on hit radio drama The Archers and in the 1990s she wrote for shows such as Children’s Ward, Emmerdale, Corrie and Playing the Field. She’s also written the TV movies To Walk Invisible, about the Bronte family, and Dead Clever. Sally has won BAFTAS for Last Tango in Halifax and Happy Valley and was awarded an OBE in 2020.
