Her characterisation attracted complaints from left-wing and feminist critics suggesting that, when he derived the character from his middle-class mother's cleaning lady, Leigh could not imagine a fulfilling life beyond such work.

Leigh uses visual echoes and parallels to juxtapose Mrs Thornley's domestic and paid jobs, heightening the play's exploration of identity as shaped by work and maternal duty (hence the pun in the title) and gender roles across classes and generations.

This, alongside recurring Catholic imagery, implicates religious guilt in her confused identity and offers active interpretations of her stoical labour, although she does not experience the moments of realisation common to characters in Leigh's later work.

Although he retains characteristic features, such as his noted process with actors, he also employs improvised location footage inspired by producer Tony Garnett, a device which he would subsequently avoid.

In the middle is the new housing estate, where Mrs Thornley's son, Edward, (played by Bernard Hill in his professional début), a car mechanic, lives with his wife Veronica (Alison Steadman).