Since Lorene Scafaria’s Hustlers in 2019, the world of stripping has been thrown into the spotlight. With seedy drug deals and bitchy back rooms exposed, the stigma around stripping was back up in the open. But one show aims to focus on women’s hardships that can’t be covered with Birkin bags and mink fur coats. Down in the deep dirty south, director Katori Hall pulls back the curtains and we enter the gritty and devastating world of P-Valley.

Originally titled Pussy Valley, the show follows perfectly polished Autumn Night (Elarica Johnson) who carries an abundance of problems and fake IDs in a stolen YSL bag – as she navigates local strip club, The Pynk. Receiving a chilly welcome from the rest of the strippers, including stripper OG Mercedes (Brandee Evans), Autumn is taught the ropes by the sharped-tongued owner Uncle Clifford (Nicco Annan). But there can only be one star of the show. As Autumn and Mercedes go back and forth, we dive in deep into their personal lives. Autumn’s mysterious and traumatic past begins too slowly seep out into the present and we experience Mercedes’ troubled relationship with her overly religious mother who sneers at her profession – but is happy to accept her “booty money”.

The eight-episode drama offers an interlocking story, touching on race, class and gender, set over a background of breathtaking pole dancing athleticism. Directed by an all-female crew of directors, the show aims to empower females and showcase the hardship and harsh reality of being a stripper in a poverty-stricken town.

Speaking to lead actress Elarica Johnson, the actress says “I’ve met so many strippers while I was there and I didn’t have an opinion just because I didn’t need to have an opinion about them but now I do and its very strong. It’s strong in the sense that these are incredible women, and every story has to be told.”

“Yes these women take off their clothes for money, yes they dance for men and for women for money – it’s their job. But it does not define who they are as people, they are still human beings – great empowering human beings. I would hope that people would watch and learn and focus on the women themselves rather than the fact that they spend their days in the strip club taking their clothes off.”

The series is set to air this Sunday on Starz Play