Riot Women on BBC One: All the music featured on the soundtrack, and if the cast played their own instruments
Sally Wainwright is back - putting Yorkshire and strong female leads at the centre of her series
Riot Women lands on BBC One with a roar this weekend and an unlikely punk rock band at the heart of the drama – but do the cast play their own musical instruments, and what’s the soundtrack?
Sally Wainwright is a favourite here at TVGuide.co.uk, so watching her latest six-part series was a no-brainer. And like Happy Valley, the Yorkshire writer gives a voice to “women of a certain age”.
While the five central characters in Riot Women feel “invisible”, the cast are anything but… The leading actors – Joanna Scanlan, Rosalie Craig, Lorraine Ashbourne, Tamsin Greig, and Amelia Bullmore – at the top of their game.
And they also prove that you CAN teach an old dog new tricks… So do the cast all play their own musical instruments in Riot Women? And what is the original soundtrack feature on the series? Here’s everything you need to know.
What’s the music in Riot Women?
Riot Women is all about women and music. It follows a teacher, a police officer, a pub landlady, a midwife, and a “shoplifting freeloader” who form a punk rock band. The five menopausal women aim to take part in a local talent contest.
Talking about the multi-hyphenate writer and creator Sally Wainwright told us: “I had the idea for the series about 10 years ago. It was about finding a life-affirming way to talk about the menopause. I’ve always wanted to write about a rock band, so it was just putting those two things together.”
The music produced by the band within the show was all written by a band called ARXX, read more below.
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Who wrote the music in Riot Women? Who are ARXX?
Riot Women features original songs from Brighton punk duo ARXX.
ARXX are Hanni Pidduck on lead vocals and guitar, and Clara Townsend on drums. They were described by Diva Magazine as “a vital addition to the queer music scene”.
Hanni (they/them, guitar and vocals) and Clara (she/her, drums and percussion) are best friends who are rising stars on the live scene.
An interview with them explained: “Their focus on spreading positive mental health messages online, as well as championing women and non-binary artists, has already made them queer icons on the Brighton music scene.”
Spotify describe them as: “Hanni and Clara are queer power pop duo, ARXX. Imagine Taylor Swift if she only ever listened to Nirvana.”
Championed by NME and BBC Introducing among others, their latest album Wrong Girl, Honey is out now. This year, the duo played at the Glastonbury Greenpeace stage.
‘The song Seeing Red is so catchy and fabulous’
Talking about bringing ARXX onboard, Sally explained: “The songs are composed by ARXX. Amy Raphael recommended them. She’s a rock journalist who came on board early on to advise us. ARXX, made up of Hanni and Clara, are a Rock/Pop/Alternative band based in Brighton.
“We gave them some ideas for a song called Seeing Red and we asked a few people to look at it. ARXX came back with by far the best version of it. They put so much into it, and they really transformed it and turned it into their own. It’s so catchy and it’s just fabulous.”
Sally continued: “They wrote the music and the lyrics, but we also offered them bits – for example, our police advisor, Lisa, came up with the first line ‘I’m so depressed, I can’t get dressed’. So again, we all put little bits in, but ARXX really turned it into their own and brought their fabulous energy to it.”
ARXX wrote Seeing Red, a song called Riot Women which is performed in the final episode. Another song called Sh*tting Pineapples is about childbirth. And Just Like Your Mother – which Beth and Kitty write in the series – is something Beth’s ex-husband always used to say to her.
In the series, Kitty and Beth create the music and lyrics with input from the other members of the band.
Did the cast learn how to play musical instruments in Riot Women?
The BBC One show Riot Women features an incredible cast – and the actors did, in fact, learn to play the musical instruments for the roles.
Sally Wainwright said: “Joanna, Tamsin, Amelia and Lorraine couldn’t play their instruments before they started. So they’ve been on a massive journey where they are now a band – they are really playing those instruments.
“Toby Higgins and Nick Pinchpeck have been their music teachers, and they’ve all really applied themselves. It’s miraculous what they’ve done in quite a short space of time. It’s been around six to seven months. I was really keen that they should be playing their own instruments.
She confessed: “I hate it when you see people pretending or miming as I think it instantly takes you out of it. I think it also helped them to really own their characters.”
Tamsin Greig learnt to play bass guitar to play Holly Gaskell. She felt a “fizzy joy” to experience something new at nearly 60 years of age. She said: “If you just listened to me on my own, it would be pretty elementary. But to play in the band was a little bit like skydiving together – you’re holding hands and you can’t believe you haven’t got a parachute.”
In fact, Sally even learnt to play a few musical instruments herself as Riot Women creator. She said: “I’ve learnt to play the drums and the electric guitar for the show and for my own prep.”
The cast of Riot Women formed ‘a legitimate music band’
For the role of Jess Burchill, actress Lorraine Ashbourne learnt how to play the drums. She described the experience as “rewarding” and “incredibly bonding”.
She revealed: “We’re a band. A legitimate band! What a privilege to form a band with these talented, powerful women. It’s utterly thrilling, and I think all women of a certain age – of ANY age – should be in a band. I reckon this series will start a trend – all musical instruments shops, stock up now!”
She added: “I think everyone thinks they can play the drums – I thought I could! I had my drum kit at home and people used to pop in and give it a bash. They could make a pretty good sound out of my kit immediately which is great. However, it’s actually incredibly hard. It’s like a sport and you’ve got to be fit. It’s exhausting physically and mentally.
“To be a good drummer, I think you need good timing, discipline, strength, good coordination, good concentration and focus – I don’t possess any! Drumming didn’t come naturally so it was a huge challenge for me. I felt embarrassed, and hated feeling like a kid again. I felt so incompetent and frustrated – how can each limb do something entirely different all at the same time?”
She thanked her “terrific tutor” Toby Higgins for being “sublimely patient”, “encouraging”, and very “good humoured”.
Amelia Bullmore learnt to play lead guitar for the role
Actress and comedian Amelia Bulmore, 61, learnt how to play lead guitar with teacher Nick Pinchbeck.
She told us: “Very slowly, in these tiny little increments, you just get a little less bad. It’s just magic really that you can get a bit better. It’s been a long time since I’ve learnt something from scratch. Initially, my hands couldn’t get round the neck of the guitar and then one day they could.
“I’m definitely going to keep playing, I’ve got the bug.”
Can Rosalie Craig sing?
Rosalie Craig, to plays the troubled Kitty in Riot Women, is actually singing in Riot Women. The 45-year-old star is known for her multiple roles in musical theatre.
One of her most notable roles in theatre was playing the title character in Tori Amos’ The Light Princess at the National Theatre in 2013, for which she was nominated for an Olivier Award. She also received a London Evening Standard Award for Best Performance in a Musical for the same role.
Talking about Rosaline, Sally Wainwright shared: “Rosalie can sing, she’s a brilliant singer.”
Meanwhile, Joanna Scanlan said: “Rosalie is a musician. She’s a fabulous singer, who worked in musical theatre all her life. She can play piano, guitar and everything else. She is deeply musical.”
Lastly, Tamsin Greig said: “Rosalie Craig can sing. There was no acting involved. When we first heard her sing in the show, you just know you’re in the presence of something extraordinary.”
