Riot Women star Joanna Scanlan: 'I know now how much I really love life'

Joanna Scanlan’s performance in Riot Women might be the finest TV acting of a very strong year. Watch out for her on all the awards shortlists in 2026. Sally Wainwright’s series, which concluded on BBC One recently and will return next year, followed five menopausal women who form a punk band, sing about their big issues, and forge a new creative community. It has really found its audience.  

“I’ve been really touched,” says Scanlan, star of The Thick of It, Bridget Jones’s Baby, Bafta winner for After Love and co-creator and star of Getting On, when she calls Big Issue. “It’s been quite a human response. I’ve had a lot of people coming up to me and talking about how it has reflected their lives. People have felt seen by it, which has been very moving. There’s been a few people in tears, brimming with the weight of the years, like with the characters in the story, and the toll life has taken in its different ways.” 

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As well as showing women in and around their 50s taking centre stage, making a big noise, the show also foregrounds their work in community building.  

“Beth and most of the others are in some sort of caring, giving profession,” continues Scanlan. “It’s about service. They are civil servants, teachers, police officers, even Jess in the pub is a social servant, providing community.  

“The show recognises and appreciates that these people make a contribution and how important that is in Britain, where consumerism and the sense of identity coming from your net worth is recalibrated in this show.” 

Riot Women also celebrates creativity and its incredible power to bring people together, have a positive impact on self-worth and improve mental health.  

“Community arts has always been part of my life. I work at the David Lean Cinema, which is a community volunteer led cinema in Croydon,” says Scanlan.  

“I’m very involved with British Youth Opera, because I think arts provision for young people is essential, and Slide – which is South London Inclusive Dance Experience. I genuinely don’t see a distinction between any kind of creative practice.  

“In this story, that’s music and it’s a punk band. And that’s great because punk gives you permission not to be good. And I don’t believe meaningful art does have to be excellent art. I love excellence. But I also really enjoy beautiful amateurism. If you watch a group of 10-year-olds put on Romeo and Juliet, it hits you in the solar plexus in a way something at the National Theatre might not. 

“So I hope our little punk band is a beacon and a suggestion to people, a provocation as they say now, to get stuck in!” 

What have been your cultural highlights of 2025 – book, film, podcast, TV, live event? 

At the David Lean Cinema we’ve been doing All of us Strangers walks this year. So there is a sort of pilgrimage walk to all the locations. And there’s a really strong fan base for that film and for Paul Mescal and Andrew Scott. It’s gone on beyond the cinematic release and become something wider and more experiential. It’s fascinating.  

Did you see Oasis in 2025?  

I didn’t see Oasis – I was jealous of my niece because she went and loved it, but I can’t stand amplified concerts in general. I love acoustic concerts but the sound in a big concert just doesn’t do it for me. Call me like a little old lady who just doesn’t want to go out – and there’s an element of truth in that – but I find it a bit overwhelming to go to an arena tour. If Riot Women were playing it would be somewhere much smaller! 

What music have you engaged with in 2025?  

I’ve been to a lot of opera. I saw L’elisir d’amore, which was absolutely the funnest, most entertaining, genuinely hilarious opera production I’ve seen in a long time and was beautifully put together at Garsington. That was a big highlight.  

Did you watch Adolescence? 

It was absolutely terrific and nailed a very serious problem in our community and society. Philip Barantini has perfected his live filming method, which made it much more of an event than just a TV show. I live in the Croydon borough, and knife crime for young people is the biggest issue. Adolescence brought together crime amongst young people and the relationship social media has to the uncontrollable emotion of being an adolescent. I was out of control when I was the same age as the lad in it. Had I had access to those two, let’s call them weapons, of social media and knives, I might very well have got involved in something horrendous. 

Do you think your job is at risk from AI? 

I am a huge fan, on the positive side of this question, of a terrific guy called Cal Newport who is a professor of computer science. He wrote a brilliant book called Slow Productivity. He looks into the digital sphere and challenges assumptions around AI. So I’m holding out for something different… and getting Cal Newport to hold my hand in that process.  

What is the oddest family Christmas tradition you keep? 

It’s probably not that strange, because this happens for many families, but my brother and his wife separated when my niece was three, which is now 20 years ago and after that he moved to Wales, where we come from. So we always have two Christmases – one the week before, where every aspect is the same, the food, the presents, then the Big Welsh Christmas. But what’s strange is that my brother and his ex-wife get on really well so she is always part of it as well, so we’ve ended up with two Christmases when all the same people.  

What do you think the world got right this year?  

Thinking of something the world got right is hard, isn’t it? But one thing we are getting right is building our community on a micro level. I’m involved in more events and there is more to be involved in – local events, book clubs, litter picking. And we have a scheme in Croydon where we have an extra wheelie bin for the local food bank and it’s incredibly effective. In a borough where there is quite a lot of poverty, the Purley Food Hub is helping in a meaningful and diligent manner.  

What do you know about yourself now that you didn’t this time last year? 

I know now how much I really love life. And how much there is to enjoy. I feel like a bit of me has relaxed, and that’s brought in more pleasure and enjoyment. I think it’s just the accretion of age – I feel better for being older.  

What’s your Big Issue for 2026 that will make life better? 

I think more of that expression. Taking my take my own medicine from Riot Women, or Sally Wainwright’s medicine, arguably, of just being more expressive – making more of my own creative expression and not just as an interpretive actor, but in as many avenues as possible. 

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