Alma's Not Normal
Alma's Not Normal is a British sitcom first broadcast as a pilot episode on BBC Two in April 2020. The series follows the eponymous Alma, from Bolton, as she tries to give her life meaning and the "fabulous" outcome she has always dreamed of, while coping with the strained relationships of her family that saw her spend time in care, something else which she is trying to reconcile. The series is written by and stars Sophie Willan and is inspired by her own experiences of the care system. Willan won the 2021 BAFTA Television award for best comedy writer for the pilot episode. A full six episode series was commissioned for broadcast in 2021. A second series was commissioned in 2022. Background Willan wrote the first draft around 2014 on the back of the austerity measures of the Cameron Government, that Willan says "felt really negative for welfare recipients, mental health [care] and social services recipients – people like my mother, people who’ve had difficulties." As Laura Minor argues, "Alma's Not Normal provides commentary on the gendered and classed impacts of austerity in the North." Willan won the BBC's Caroline Aherne Bursary in 2017 which awarded her £5000 to develop