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We Are Lady Parts – the story of the Muslim equivalent of the Sex Pistols, as the band forms out of the angst of trying to find a husband.
It centres around Amina (Anjana Vasan, Hang Ups, Black Mirror: Nosedive), a 26-year-old PhD microbiology student who’s being set up for an arranged marriage with a man who she reckons has “demeneter vibes“. Meanwhile, amongst many other exchanges in that scene, her Dad embarrasses her, getting across how she sweats a lot…
However, with her “husband quest” not quite working out – even with the help of best friend Noor (Aiysha Hart), at least she’s got her pop band, Lady Parts, to help deal with life – a mix of “hash anthems and girl power”. She hasn’t yet joined them, but her path will soon collide with this four-piece punk band whose members include Ayseha (Juliette Motamed), a drummer who also drives an Uber and doesn’t take any crap from extremely rude customers.
Amina will become their accidental new guitarist, but isn’t wholly set on the idea. Still, since she’s obsessed with finding the right man, and is in love with Ayesha’s brother, Ahsan (Zaqi Ismail), how about the agreement to join the band if she scores a date with the man at the same time?
We Are Lady Parts has very sharp writing with quick editing, leading to a sitcom that’s frequently amusing, but not laugh-out-loud funny.
There’s a lot of quick chat, so it’s difficult to take it all in without rewinding, but they could do with allowing the dialogue a bit of room to breathe. As such, it’s entertaining, but it rather flashes by without giving you too much that’s very memorable.
However, the first episode includes a hilarious rendition of Cavatina on guitar, and I’m also left wondering why the series has been filmed in a 2.39:1 Cinemascope-style widescreen aspect ratio when it’s a TV sitcom?
We Are Lady Parts is on Channel 4 from Thursday May 20th at 10pm, it will run for six episodes, and after the first episode is broadcast, the entire series will be on All 4. In the US, it will air on Peacock at some point.
It is not yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD.
Check out the trailer below:
Episodes 1-2 Score: 7/10
Director: Nida Manzoor
Producer: John Pocock
Writer: Nida Manzoor
Music: Shez Manzoor
Cast:
Amina: Anjana Vasan
Saira: Sarah Kameela Impev
Bisma: Faith Omole
Momtaz: Lucie Shorthouse
Ayseha: Juliette Motamed
Zarina: Sofia Barclay
Ahsan: Zaqi Ismail
Noor: Aiysha Hart
Sahar: Chantelle Alle
Zeyba: Halema Hussain
Sabah: Sarah Seggari
Abdullah: David Avery
Imani: Edesiri Okepnerho
Seema: Shobu Kapoor
Tariq: Madhav Sharma
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.