Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
When we talk about streaming culture, we’re usually enthusing about what’s new, but one of the best things about streaming is how it’s made old and obscure cult hits available to a new generation. Presenting Cult Corner: your weekly look into hidden gems and long-lost curiosities that you can find on streaming.
British television. We often think of it as its own distinct genre of highbrow tea parties, elegant ladies, and cerebral crime dramas. But British television isn’t all lords and ladies and their lush lands — because England isn’t just a nation of people living in mansion houses. Enter Raised By Wolves, writer Caitlin Moran‘s bawdy look at her working class childhood in Wolverhampton.
If the name Caitlin Moran wrings a bell, it might be because she’s an internationally-renowned writer, columnist, feminist, and pop culture critic. She started her career as a plucky teen music journalist (and she may or may not have been responsible for the death of Kurt Cobain). As the years went on, she shifted into one of Great Britain’s leading editorial voices. In 2011, she published her world-wide bestseller How To Be A Woman. It’s like Tina Fey’s Bossypants with way more sex and drugs and Marxism splashed in. As a pop culture critic, she has an uncanny ability to strike with exuberant wit. As a feminist philosopher, she has bold and brash ideas about how women should fight to express themselves. She’s all about positive body image and sticking it to the man.
Raised By Wolves is a passion project of Moran’s. She developed the sitcom with her sister Caroline. While the show is set in modern day Wolverhampton, it’s clearly lifted from the Moran sisters’ own rambunctious childhood in that central English city. Moran has always lovingly associated herself with her rough and tumble working class roots. Unlike some British cultural icons, who want to distance themselves from the prejudices their nation lobs against the impoverished, Moran revels in her natural uncouthness. Raised By Wolves is defined by this gleefully shameless celebration of the working class. Yes, times are tough for the Garry family, but its their pluck and humor facing these circumstances that make them such lovable heroines (and heroes).
Raised By Wolves stars Rebekah Staton as Della Garry, an indefatigable single mother raising her six children — five girls and one boy – on her own. Staton is fantastic in the role, but the spotlight is usually stolen by Della’s two eldest daughters, Germaine (Helen Monks) and Aretha (Alexa Davies). Germaine is a sassy, sex-crazed overweight brunette obsessed with rock and roll and bad boys. Aretha is the more level-headed and far more ginger younger sister. Needless to say, these two hilarious young teens are meant to be stand ins for Caitlin and Caroline Moran.
Now, Raised By Wolves doesn’t come without controversy. While many critics found its breezy approach to dirty (and unpleasant) topics refreshing, more conservative viewers were squeamish about the show’s obsession with raunch. Most specifically, The Herald lambasted a plot line concerning a character’s first period as a “bloody mess.” (Well, more specifically, the reviewer thought that some of the humor leaned on shock-value and stereotypes, but hey, that’s just one person’s opinion.)
Still, the show’s appeal comes from its sharp humor and its earnest portrayal of working class life. It may not be Downton Abbey, but Raised By Wolves is still an enchanting view of life in England.
