Riot Women returning to BBC One for a second series

The Riot Women are BACK!

BBC One has confirmed that Sally Wainwright's brilliant hit drama Riot Women, will be returning for a second series.

Created and written by Sally Wainwright, series one followed a teacher, a police officer, a pub landlady, a midwife, and a shoplifting freeloader: five menopausal women who formed a punk rock band to take part in a local talent contest, and suddenly found they had a lot more to shout about than they ever imagined.

As they became closer, the teacher, Beth, and freeloader, Kitty, discovered a surprising, earth-shattering connection from their past.

The second series will show what comes next for the Riot Women following the dramatic turn of events in the series one finale, with further details announced in due course.

Set and filmed in Hebden Bridge in West Yorkshire, the Riot Women band members included Joanna Scanlan as Beth, Rosalie Craig as Kitty, Tamsin Greig as Holly, Lorraine Ashbourne as Jess, and Amelia Bullmore as Yvonne, with Taj Atwal, Chandeep Uppal and Macy Seelochan as Nisha, Kam and Miranda, the band’s riotous backing singers.

Speaking ahead of the show's return, Sally Wainwright, creator, writer, lead director and executive producer, said "Oh, this is where the fun really starts! We’ve all been so deeply moved by the huge, overwhelming, joyous, emotional response to series one, and now we’re able to take the Riot Women extravaganza onto the next level! We hope you’ll all join us on the series two rollercoaster!"

To which the BBC's Director of Drama, Lindsay Salt, added "Riot Women has resonated with millions of BBC viewers so I’m over the moon that we get to go again. An enormous thank you goes to Sally, Roanna, the team at Drama Republic and the dream cast and crew. Riot Women has made people laugh, cry, think and connect with others - what more could we ask for... Bring on the next chapter!"

Made by Drama Republic, a Mediawan company, series one of Riot Women was created, written and executive produced by Sally Wainwright, who was also the lead director, produced by Jessica Taylor and executive produced by Roanna Benn for Drama Republic, Tanya Qureshi for the BBC, Robert Schildhouse and Jess O'Riordan for BritBox.

The first series was a co-production for BritBox International and was produced by Drama Republic, a Mediawan Company and the first episode has been watched by 5.4m viewers after 28 days.

On today's news, Roanna Benn, executive producer for Drama Republic, said "We are bowled over by how hugely audiences have loved and resonated with Sally’s brilliant characters and stories and by the rightful praise for the phenomenal actors who have each made their character so much their own. We have so many stories yet to tell for them and we cannot wait to get started."

Riot Women will return to BBC One