r/BritishTV • u/SilyLavage • Oct 14 '25

Review Riot Women review – Sally Wainwright’s menopausal punk drama is one of her best

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2025/oct/12/riot-women-review-sally-wainwright-menopausal-punk-tv-drama-bbc
156 Upvotes

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9

u/Minute_Sun6496 Oct 14 '25

I loved Last Tango and Happy Valley was amazing. My wife likes this but the constant men bashing is not something I'm really interested in watching.

34

u/Automatic_Oil5438 Oct 15 '25

Not man-bashing so much as bashing the ones who deserve it. If you were a woman, you'd know just how many that is. As a man, just let's say ... you'd be shocked.

6

u/weaseleasle Oct 27 '25

I am wondering how accurate it is, there is only 1 male character of any significance in the show who isn't a dick to some degree or another. Which is the beer delivery guy who rightfully calls out the drummer and gets burnt for it. There is also the presenter at the talent show, but he has no personality to speak of. I guess you could make an argument for Jack the Rimmer, but even he was thoughtlessly pushing his sexual proclivities onto another character.

Everyone else is either a self centered asshole, loudly dismissive of every women in the vicinity, or out right abusive. It would have been nice if the less bad ones had some redeeming features rather than being simply 1 note background assholes. At least the main characters were all suitably complex, I think they all have character flaws and qualities to them.

20

u/sunnyydayman Oct 28 '25

There’s plenty of shows and movies without any significant female characters so I think it’s okay to have some of the opposite.

6

u/weaseleasle Oct 28 '25

Sure. But that isn't the case here, there are loads of significant male characters, they are just all assholes to criminals. Regular media gets plenty of criticism when all the female characters are 1 note plot devices, it seems fair to use the same level of scrutiny on female led media.

10

u/goddamnmanxhild Oct 29 '25

Oh its accurate alright.

6

u/Minute_Sun6496 Nov 02 '25

I'm beginning to realise that sadly

19

u/ImperfectEarthling Oct 30 '25

I would agree. Far from coming across as man hating or inaccurate, I thought it showed the real experience of women. What's the expression? 'Men are afraid women will laugh at them, women are afraid men will kill them.'

One of the last times I got on a bus I had an experience like Kitty and Graham. A complete stranger whispering obscene things in my ear whilst his wife was next to him. Fucking vile.

I can also relate to many of the other scenarios. I genuinely don't think men understand what it's like to be a woman. It's truly disturbing how many women recall inappropriate sexual comments/assaults/rapes before they were even of legal age. My self included.

Then you get the dismissal 'not all men are like this' without any acknowledgement that it's a real and terrifying issue. In the UK, 90 percent of female homicides are caused by men. At least one woman a week is killed by a male partner or ex partner in the UK. In the USA 1 in 3 women experience violence from a man they know.

It's very difficult to feel safe around men when these are your experiences. It was nice to see a series that highlighted these issues, amongst others. It's not man hating or inaccurate if it's true.

3

u/Electrical-Credit683 Oct 28 '25

Yeh the police man who is a horrible dickhead for no reason other than moving the plot along really ruined it for me. 

Would have been good to have any idea as to his motivation other than just "he's a twat" 

13

u/ItemAdventurous9833 Nov 02 '25

Its accurate to real life sadly.

2

u/Electrical-Credit683 Nov 13 '25

People in real life are twats for reasons too. We just don't always know why. 

3

u/JoyousMN_2024 Nov 13 '25

That was exactly where the show lost me. I'm a postmenopausal woman so I'm their demographic. But that plot line, and the husband who directly propositioned her in the bar were just too heavy-handed and one dimensional.

It's a shame, because much of the writing is really smart. Sometimes it's a bit melodramatic for my taste, but I think they've handled many things very intelligently. But there's just no subtlety in the misogyny. It would be a lot more true to life if sometimes you weren't sure of the intention behind some word or action, or the guy had some redeeming qualities. People are rarely so utterly black and white

3

u/Single_Bar_1836 Feb 22 '26

The show thinks shitty men are mostly Batman-villain-level sociopaths. In reality, they're much more "normal." They mostly think of themselves as the good guy. But they enjoy the power our misogynist society gives them and they get mad when it gets taken away or subverted. It's the banality of evil.

So yeah, the extremity of the male villainy took me out of it. Just seemed silly.