I had heard great things about a show called We Are Lady Parts back in 2021 but I never bothered to check it out, as it was a Peacock original, and, until Poker Face came along in 2023, I didn’t really take Peacock seriously as a purveyor of decent original content.
Then I forgot all about it because We Are Lady Parts took three years to return for a second season, which finally premiered in May of 2024.
I can tell you one thing, now that I’ve seen this show: if I had seen it back when it premiered in 2021, I would have been LIVID if you had made me wait three years to see more of it.
We Are Lady Parts is A-MAZ-ING. I would ask where it’s been my whole life, but I know: buried on Peacock, the same place it’s been lost in your life, but hopefully now you will discover it as I did and you will be changed forever, as I am.
We Are Lady Parts is a British comedy about an all-female Muslim punk band in London, comprised of four musicians and a manager who care deeply about their music, but care just as deeply about each other and about how their band advances the cause of the sisterhood—and, well, they are just plain badass.
Like Deli Boys, it is representation of Muslim characters like you’ve never seen before, and that representation is embraced wholeheartedly, but what is so well done is it is never the point. The fact that they are all Muslim, and embrace their religion in varied ways, is merely part of the fabric of the show, never a plot point, which makes We Are Lady Parts all the more surprising and refreshing.
The point of We Are Lady Parts is that these characters are engaging, loaded with personality, funny, smart, talented and oh-so enjoyable to be around. Bisma, played by Faith Omole, is the bassist, the only mother in the group, the most grounded yet the most spiritually soaring. Juliette Motamed is Ayesha the drummer, the stylish hothead. Momtaz, played by Lucie Shorthouse, is the band’s manager, passionately committed to making the band successful. Amina, played by Anjana Vasan, is the lead guitarist who had to overcome her crippling stage fright to even be able to play a chord without vomiting. But the leader of the group is band founder Saira, played by Sarah Kameela Impey, the lead singer and rhythm guitarist and emotional core, who lives, eats and breathes the band, sometimes to the sacrifice of everything else in her life.
There are many challenges along the way for the band and their relationships, including betrayals, heartaches, failures and successes, but everything is brilliantly guided by the skillful hand of writer/director/show creator Nida Manzoor, who writes and directs all twelve episodes (so far), and the bonds that are created between these women, along with the chemistry between the actors, not to mention the pitch-perfect performances, make for a show that is a pure joy to experience.
We Are Lady Parts is laugh out loud funny, the music is fantastic, the pace is as quick as the dialogue, you’ll find yourself loving every moment you spend in this world with these characters and you’ll want more, so much more.
The first two seasons of We Are Lady Parts are available to stream on Peacock. No word yet on whether there will be a third season.