‘Funny Woman’ returns for 2nd series beginning February 2 on PBS.
Gemma Arterton as Barbara Parker/Sophie Straw in Funny Woman Season 2 Sky Max/PBS
Funny Woman, which premiered in January 2024, followed Barbara Parker (Gemma Arterton), a small-town (Blackpool) beauty queen who decides to swap her pageant life for comedy television in 1960s London. Series two, premiering Sunday, February 2 on PBS, finds Sophie on a definite high.
After landing a TV show audition in series one, you’ll remember that Barbara found that being a woman in a largely male environment had its own challenges. As she ‘finds her funny’ voice, Barbara re-defines the prevailing attitude toward funny women and reinvents herself.
Armed with her secret weapon of an uncompromising northern wit, Parker adopts the stage name of Sophie Straw upon her arrival in London where she ultimately lands a role in a TV sitcom. Unfortunately, her fight had only just begun.
In series two, however, Sophie on a definite high. She is still hanging in there at the BBC. She is the nation’s favorite TV comedy star; she’s got a group of good friends and her romance with Dennis is full of promise. But trouble is just round the corner: Dennis’s divorce will take three years; Sophie’s new sitcom flops and she uncovers a devastating family secret. Sophie escapes the turmoil by taking a leading role in a film opposite a glamorous French movie heart-throb.
The film is a hit and Sophie’s slick new US agent offers her a fresh start in Hollywood… But Sophie returns to London, determined to get the gang back together and to create a new show which reflects her real life, challenges outdated cultural conventions and proves that she and her mates are Funny Women!
Based on the Nick Hornby (Fever Pitch, High Fidelity, About a Boy) novel Funny Girl, Funny Woman tells the story of a would-be female comedian, Barbara Parker, who decides that it’s not enough just to be Miss Blackpool; she wants to star in comedy television. The 60s-set drama sheds a harsh but real light on the male-dominated world of television comedy.
Clare-Hope Ashitey (Doctor Foster) and Alexa Davies (COBRA) return as Dian and Marjorie with Matthew Beard (Vienna Blood), Leo Bill (Becoming Elizabeth), Alistair Petrie (Sex Education) and David Threlfall (Ripper Street) return for series 2, which adds a number of new faces including including Gemma Whelan (D.I. Ray), Marcus Rutherford (The Wheel of Time), Lydia Leonard (Ten Percent), Tim Key (Wicked Little Letters), Roisin Conaty (After Life), Rory Keenan (The Regime), Lydia Wilson, Jack Docherty (Monarch of the Glen), Josie Lawrence (Father Brown), and Steve Zissis (The Changeling).
The 4-part series 2 of Funny Woman returns Sunday, February 2, 2025 at 10pET/9pCT on PBS and will run through February 23. The series will also be available on the PBS app and the PBS Masterpiece Prime Video Channel. If you are a member of your local PBS station, all four episodes will be available as a binge on premiere day for PBS Passport members.
In: Comedy
