Diane Morgan returns as the titular character in the second series of Mandy on BBC Two, a sitcom that defies traditional character development. Morgan's performance as the mardy, unemployable Lancastrian is deliberately two-dimensional, as if controlled by a tiny intern inside her beehive hairstyle. The show embraces the philosophy that people do not change, and richly developed narratives are unnecessary.
In the season two premiere, Mandy is sent by jobcentre staff to work at a stately home called Brampton Hall. Her previous jobs ended in disaster, including fatalities at a banana plant and a £79 bill for edam after misinterpreting a staff discount at Co-op. Dressed as a scullery maid, she leads tours, inventing nonsensical historical claims such as 'This is the room where John the Baptist died' and that Ronnie and Reggie Kray were killed for stealing Michael Heseltine's ashtray.
Later, Mandy is tasked with serving nibbles at a book reading but stumbles into a satanic black mass. She is strapped to an altar by naked satanists, only to be rescued by her friend Lola, who smacks the men's bare buttocks and chases them off. The episode ends with two revelations, one of which is that Mandy has a son she has not seen in 15 years.
Mandy shares DNA with Morgan's other characters, such as Philomena Cunk and Liz from Motherland, all of whom are gormless or scathing pundits. The show is a revolutionary sitcom, dedicated to the idea that people do not really change, and it remains to be seen how far it can go with zero character development.
