Good Morning Lovelies,

Since her arrival on screen in Dinnerladies, Maxine Peake has gone on to give audiences the true grit of British life. Whether that be through TV shows, such as Shameless and the recent Three Girls or in film performances such as The Theory of Everything. However, something that stands out is that she hasn’t ever really been the leading lady. Something, which is very wrong!

However, this all changed last year with the London Film Festival hit Funny Cow, a film by Adrian Shergold and Tony Pitts. Recalling the life of a female comedian, during the 1970s and 80s, the story captures the tough working men’s world that Funny Cow works to break down. With testy subjects and jokes that are made strangely not to be laughed at, the film shows Funny Cows rise, as she takes on an abusive father (Stephen Graham), lazy husband (a role Pitts fills) and a boyfriend (Paddy Considine) who constantly relies on her, to show audiences that she will not be stopped.

The film is a raw piece of British cinema that reflects that of the 60s kitchen sink genre and the 90s post-Thatcher world that was being rebuilt. Peake shows how the woman she is embodying isn’t trying to make audiences fall in love with her. Just proving to them that life may be tough, but she is going to make sure that they know she has the strength to get through it. Even it does mean that as a viewer, you are left both in awe and pain for the character.

Meeting the character at the top of her career, before going back and forth into her life to see how she got there, is a clever way to immerse the audience into all aspects of her life. And if you are anything like me, it provides a sense of beauty about the way in which Peake plays Funny Cow. She is showcasing to viewers all over that the character won’t be able to be recreated. She is giving her all, everything and power to make her hers and hers alone.

It also shows how much Pitt worked on the script to make it different to what audiences may have been expecting. The character’s jokes are often offensive but made to suit the time in which the fit is set. The story doesn’t build to give audiences what they want. No guesses, no clichés and no expectations are ever given. Just a fresh new look on a topic that hasn’t really been explored on film, with TV being the exception with The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.

Overall the film is going to go down as a classic piece of British cinema, but also as the film that will now catapult Peake as a true leading lady. She has proven it time and time again, but with the clever use of Pitt’s script, Shergold’s capturing of the character and her building of the personality that we see on screen, she is a force to be reckoned with. Funny Cow will bring how that true British comedian we all know in a new wave.

And there so, I am giving it…