Verified source report

‘We tell the truth!’ Meet the NaNaz, the over-50s punks raging about pensions, recycling bins and menopause

Before music, these women had worked as nurses, foster carers and ice-cream van drivers. Now, they’re booked solid at clubs and festivals. How did they become the real-life Riot Women? When Sally Wainwright’s series Riot Women burst on to screens last autumn, the overwhelming critical acclaim was punctured by a few questions about authenticity. “There is a fascinating TV series to be made about a menopausal rock band – Riot Women isn’t it,” opined Tiff Bakker in the Guardian , denigrating the fictional group as a “bunch of middle-aged punk rockers who, until now, seem to have heard of only Abba”. If Wainwright needs inspiration for the second series, she could do worse than head to south Wales to meet the real life version of the Riot Women. The NaNaz are a six-piece punk band formed last year by a group of women in their 50s and 60s. Their repertoire of songs tackles everything from una

Vinita Duniphin Culture Source report

What happened

According to The Guardian’s source item, ‘We tell the truth!’ Meet the NaNaz, the over-50s punks raging about pensions, recycling bins and menopause, Before music, these women had worked as nurses, foster carers and ice-cream van drivers. Now, they’re booked solid at clubs and festivals. How did they become the real-life Riot Women? When Sally Wainwright’s series Riot Women burst on to screens last autumn, the overwhelming critical acclaim was punctured by a few questions about authenticity. “There is a fascinating TV series to be made about a menopausal rock band – Riot Women isn’t it,” opined Tiff Bakker in the Guardian , denigrating the fictional group as a “bunch of middle-aged punk rockers who, until now, seem to have heard of only Abba”. If Wainwright needs inspiration for the second series, she could do worse than head to south Wales to meet the real life version of the Riot Women. The NaNaz are a six-piece punk band formed last year by a group of women in their 50s and 60s. Their repertoire of songs tackles everything from una

Context

The development sits in VINI’s Culture file for readers following arts, entertainment, fashion, film, music, celebrity, and the business of culture. The original report is linked so readers can check the source account, follow later updates, and compare new coverage against the first published record. The source item is dated 2026-05-20T04:00:22+00:00.

What to watch

Open questions include whether primary sources issue follow-up statements, whether local or market impacts become clearer, and whether additional reporting changes the timeline or adds material context.

Source

Primary source: ‘We tell the truth!’ Meet the NaNaz, the over-50s punks raging about pensions, recycling bins and menopause via The Guardian. VINI cites and links the source; it does not reproduce the publisher’s full article text without rights clearance.

This source-cited VINI report links to the original publisher record. VINI does not republish third-party article bodies without rights clearance. 1 source listed.

Source links

‘We tell the truth!’ Meet the NaNaz, the over-50s punks raging about pensions, recycling bins and menopauseThe Guardian - 2026-05-20T04:00:22+00:00

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