Mum theme tune, music, and cast for the BBC 2 sitcom TV series

You don’t really get too many middle-aged single mothers as the framework for sitcom setups, but that’s the case for BBC 2’s 2016 comedy, Mum. Here’s everything that you need to know about the show, including the video for the theme song, which you can take a listen to with the audio music video further down the page.

The series is developed by the creative team behind hit BBC comedy Him & Her, and it’s another witty take on modern day lives. Having covered the fledgling young couple relationship in the previous show, Mum has widowed mum Cathy as the focus this time around, and it’s a gem of a sitcom for anyone that hasn’t seen it yet.

The success of the first series led to the arrival of Mum Series 2 in early 2018, so it’s definitely managed to pick up a lot of appreciation along the way – and not just for the excellent theme tune. If that isn’t impressive enough, it has also been picked up for a third series, which was confirmed before the air date for Series 2, so clearly this is a show close the BBC’s heart.

The recognition continued at the 2017 BAFTA Television awards with writer Stefan Golaszewski picking up the award for Best Comedy Writer. It’s his second BAFTA in a row for his TV series, having picked up the Best Situation Comedy award for Him & Her back in 2014. Leslie Manville was also recognised with a BAFTA nomination in the same year for Best Female Comedy Performance, but the award went to Phoebe Waller-Bridge for the other big BBC comedy hit of the year, Fleabag.

Mum air date

Mum Series 1 had its air date on the BBC 2 on the 13th May 2016 at 10pm, with the initial commission for the show being based on a previously filmed pilot episode.

Story

Olivier Award winner and Bafta-nominated actress Lesley Manville (Another Year) stars as Cathy, the eponymous parent figure from the title of the show, as she attempts to tackle the choppy waters of becoming a lone parent following the death of her husband.

With such a difficult situation to deal with, it makes for a tough year for the widower and her family with pathos and painful authenticity working alongside the family comedy approach that has been adopted for the production. Starting afresh, while attempting to hold on to significant elements of the past, the little family try to come to terms with their new life without their dad, but as you’d expect it’s not that easy just to move on.

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About the series

Series 1 consisted of six 30-minute episodes created by Big Talk Productions, which has recently worked on Raised By Wolves and has a back catalogue that includes Spaced, Chickens and The Job Lot. The creative team behind the Bafta award-winning Him & Her, another Big Talk production, came together again to work on Mum, including writer and executive producer Stefan Golaszewski, director Richard Laxton, producer Lyndsay Robinson and executive producer Kenton Allen. You can see more from Big Talk Productions on its Twitter page.

With Manville’s exceptional acting skills, having picked up an Olivier Award for Best Actress in 2014 for her role as widower Helene Alving in Henrik Ibsen’s Ghosts, it’s an emotionally charged sitcom. However, Big Talk’s experience of creating great comedies means that it wasn’t too shy in terms of laughs either.

There have been a number of comedies that have attempted to build in more pathos into their foundations in recent years, ranging from the bitter sweet Roger And Val Have Just Got In to Ricky Gervais’ Derek. Mum includes similar ideas, combining real emotions with comedy.

It’s was a short series though, so it was a challenge for Stefan Golaszewski and Richard Laxton to get the balance right from the very beginning. Although, the critical acclaim and viewership for the opening six episodes have already been enough to inspire a second series, which BBC 2 confirmed on the night of the last episode of the first series.

If you want to see more of Leslie Manville, her latest film is Mrs. Harris Goes To Paris, while Peter Mullin is currently playing Durin III in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power on Amazon Prime.

Mum theme tune

If you’ve been watching the show and the music has caught your ear, but you’re not sure who did it, the theme song is called Cups (You’re Gonna Miss Me) and it’s by Lulu and the Lampshades. The band changed its name recently to Landshapes, if you’re struggling to find out more about them.

The music is a revival of the 1931 Carter Family song When I’m Gone and it was originally performed by two members of Lulu and the Lampshades using paper cups for percussion. You can listen to the theme tune in full using the audio music video below and you can see more from the band on their Facebook page.

Mum theme song audio music video:

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If you haven’t seen the series yet, or you just want to re-watch it, you can see it in the UK over at the BBC – www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/b09sykkn/mum. This includes all three series, so you’ll also get lots of opportunities to listen to the theme song a whole lot more.

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