We Are Lady Parts Series 2: Nida Manzoor’s Punk Comedy Returns With First-Look Images

Lace up your motorcycle boots and rip off your shirt sleeves: acclaimed sitcom We Are Lady Parts is back for Series 2. Showrunner Nida Manzoor launched her career with Series 1 back in 2021, depicting the exploits of scrappy, all-female Muslim punk band, Lady Parts. Last year, she followed it up with barnstorming action-comedy film Polite Society, for which she won a BIFA for Best Debut Screenwriter. Rocking her way back to the small screen, Manzoor’s Channel 4 hit returns for another run next month, and you can see a selection of first-look images below:

The whole band is back together for this one: Anjana Vasan, who was last seen in the foul-mouthed Wicked Little Letters, returns as lead guitarist Amina, along with bandmates Sarah Kameela Impey, Juliette Motamed, and Faith Omole. Lucie Shorthouse is also back as the titular Lady Parts’ manager, Momtaz. The new episodes pick up with the band after their UK tour, as they set out to record their debut album.

Manzoor has teased what’s in store, promising a healthy mix of original songs and covers: “In Series 2, we explore the interior lives of each of the women in more depth,” she says. “Each of them facing new, existential challenges with all the silliness, pratfalls, and banter of Series 1. The music is bigger too – more wild original tunes (penned by me and my siblings) and dare I say it, even better covers. The series overall asks the question of success. What is success? For a punk band – is fame, stadium shows, and major record deals the answer? I wanted to explore the uncomfortable tension between art and commerce and ask how much compromise is too much. I’m really proud of what we achieved and can’t wait to share it with old fans and new.”

The show has also added a Nobel Prize winner to its ranks in the form of Malala Yousafzai, who will feature in a cameo role, as will comedian Meera Syal – all pointing to a bigger and more “galvanised” series. “The characters, the world, the tone – it was all there, established, and ready to go,” says Manzoor. “Now it was time to turn things up to eleven. I wanted to go bolder, sillier, darker, and deeper and that is exactly what we strived to do.”

It remains to be seen if the band’s Series 1 anthem ‘Voldemort Under My Headscarf’ will be topped, but we’ll know soon enough when the show rocks up on Channel 4 on 30 May.