Funny Woman | Preview (Sky Max)

Inspired by a time when the television sitcom was in its infancy and when women were expected to be merely decorative or the butt of the joke, Gemma Arterton stars as Barbara Parker - the Blackpool beauty queen who becomes a comedy superstar.

It’s the height of the swinging 60s and the newly crowned ‘Miss Blackpool’ has arrived in London to find her calling. But the London she finds is not quite as swinging as expected.

After a series of setbacks Barbara finds herself in an audition for a TV comedy show. It turns out Barbara’s uncompromising northern wit is the X factor that the burgeoning television sitcom scene has been missing, taking Barbara from obscurity to the front covers, kicking off a rollercoaster journey that brings us to where comedy is today.  

Also starring Clare-Hope Ashitey (Top Boy), Arsher Ali (The Missing) and Alexa Davies (White House Farm).

It’s 1964 and girls are expected to be flirty, fabulous and fertile - they are not expected to be funny - but Barbara Parker is different. Based on Nick Hornby’s bestselling 2016 novel ‘Funny Girl’, this comic drama follows Barbara (Gemma Arterton), a young woman working in a Blackpool rock factory, who sets off for London without a plan but with a dream.

She embarks on a mission to reinvent herself and find her voice in the male-dominated world of the 1960s sitcom. However the road to stardom is paved with banana skins and she has many a pratfall before she achieves her goal.

Funny Woman is available on Sky Max and streaming service NOW from 9 February.