'We Are Lady Parts' Is One of TIME's 50 Most Underappreciated TV Shows
Time · LC · trust 9/100
For every identity that is stereotyped or marginalized in mainstream pop culture, there are thousands, if not millions, of very different people whose individuality gets erased in the process. Muslim women, for example. So what better way to counter decades of representational flattening than with a show whose central characters are young Londoners who share that label but little besides it—and then throw them together in a punk band? The result is We Are Lady Parts , a raucous British comedy that premiered in 2021 and whose two seasons were co-produced by Channel 4 and Peacock. (At the moment, it’s not clear whether we can expect a third.) Among creator Nida Manzoor ’s richly written characters, all vividly portrayed by a cast with real chemistry, are a chill mom and artist (Faith Omole), a frontwoman (Sarah Kameela Impey) with riot-grrrl rage and a day job as a halal butcher, and an anxious engineering grad student in search of an arranged marriage (Anjana Vasan). From their personalities and styles to their ethnic backgrounds, sexual orientations, and relationships to Islam, these women couldn’t be more different. Yet Manzoor is never didactic about expanding viewers’ perceptions of Muslim women. She’s here to rock and to make us laugh, often at the same time, with subversive original songs (“ Voldemort Under My Headscarf ,” “ Malala Made Me Do It ”) catchy and clever enough to anchor any pop-punk playlist.
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