Article - The West Australian - November 8th, 2006
Unhappy families
8th November 2006,
Geoffrey Atherden’s name is synonymous with the ABC’s muchloved 1980s sitcom, Mother and Son, and the political comedy series, Grass Roots. But now he has turned his attention to the complexities of modern families and relationships.
This weekend Atherden proves he still has his finger on the pulse with the telemovie, Stepfather of the Bride, the last of the ABC’s major local productions for the year.
The cleverly observed comedy drama has what TV executives like to call “multi-generational” appeal.
When Skye (Lucy Taylor) and Lachlan (Leon Ford) simultaneously propose to each other on a Sydney beach, they see it as a sign they are meant to be together forever.
Skye throws herself headlong into preparations for the big day; and big is the operative word. Unlike her parents who have divorced and remarried (twice in the case of her father, Ari, played by Garry McDonald), Skye believes her marriage is going to go the distance. Since she’s only going to have one wedding, it may as well be big. Despite doing a deal with her celebrity chef boss, it’s not long before Skye has gone way over budget.
Adding to the pre-wedding stress, Skye’s maternal grandmother is near death in hospital and her mum, Sophie (Noni Hazlehurst), is having second thoughts about her marriage to Daniel (William McInnes).
Sophie thinks she might need to go away for a little while. Or a long while. She’s not sure; all she knows is she doesn’t want to wake up one day hating Daniel.
Daniel, the stepfather of the title, is also father to Jack (Alex Dimitriades), Lachlan’s best mate. Poor Jack goes off the rails when he learns of the wedding, giving Dimitriades some of Stepfather’s funniest scenes, even if his casting is a little odd (he’s just 12 years younger than McInnes).
Kate Ritchie also makes a cameo as a bridesmaid, her first appearance outside Home and Away.
Despite eloping with his filmmaker wife, Sarah Watt, and bypassing wedding fiascos altogether, McInnes related to the story.
“That whole wedding thing bypassed me completely,” he said on location in Sydney. “I bet you there’d be a temptation for some people to say it’s so ridiculous and indulgent.
“But what Geoffrey Atherden is is a great social commentator. He doesn’t actually really proclaim his views; he’s a great observer so he just sort of puts things in.
“People do spend all this money on weddings, the show is the whole thing. You may think it’s so superficial but underneath is the desire to actually make a statement about the wedding mattering a lot. It really matters to people. I can understand that.”
McInnes also liked the way Atherden portrayed the complex web of family relationships.
“It’s sort of a funny, light story with enough resonance in it to really make people have a bit of a think about things,” he said. “It’s an interesting story because there are lots of fractured families, and different families, but they all sort of co-exist quite happily, which is a really good thing to show.
“Just because you’re separated and go to another family doesn’t mean you can’t have a lot of affection, concern and friendship with your expartner.
“In that sense it’s a very relevant story. Too many shows shove a prescription of what a happy family should be down your throat — mum and dad, two kids, a dog and a station wagon. No one has a right to say what a family is.”
Having completed grim back-toback roles as the mother of heroin addicted characters in the films Candy and Little Fish, Hazlehurst enjoyed the change of pace offered by Sophie.
“Sophie’s at, I suppose, what you would call a bit of a watershed moment in her life,” she said. “Her mother’s dying, her daughter’s getting married and she’s at the point where she realises she’s never been anything but a daughter, a mother or a wife.
“She’s just realising her life is flashing past. I think she is just wondering if this is the level of excitement, is that all it’s going to be for the rest of her life. She’s trying to redefine herself. She has always defined herself by her role for other people.”
Like McInnes, she thinks Atherden has a knack for tapping into real experiences.
“Geoffrey’s skill is in putting together a story where people are believably real but it’s also heightened,” she said. “I enjoy that about his writing and I think he has woven the generations really neatly. He’s clearly at a lovely point in his own life because it’s about what love is and what’s important in life.”
Hazlehurst spent a decade hosting Better Homes and Gardens but is still best recognised for her long stint on Play School, which ended four years ago.
“I love that. To me, it means I have a sort of demographic appeal from two to 102,” she said.
“People regard me like an honorary aunty, which is lovely.”
McInnes and Hazlehurst had not worked together before Stepfather but will again play husband and wife in next year’s ABC telemovie, Before Dawn, about prime minister John Curtin and his wife, Elsie.
Stepfather of the Bride, Sunday, ABC, 8.30pm
8th November 2006,
Geoffrey Atherden’s name is synonymous with the ABC’s muchloved 1980s sitcom, Mother and Son, and the political comedy series, Grass Roots. But now he has turned his attention to the complexities of modern families and relationships.
This weekend Atherden proves he still has his finger on the pulse with the telemovie, Stepfather of the Bride, the last of the ABC’s major local productions for the year.
The cleverly observed comedy drama has what TV executives like to call “multi-generational” appeal.
When Skye (Lucy Taylor) and Lachlan (Leon Ford) simultaneously propose to each other on a Sydney beach, they see it as a sign they are meant to be together forever.
Skye throws herself headlong into preparations for the big day; and big is the operative word. Unlike her parents who have divorced and remarried (twice in the case of her father, Ari, played by Garry McDonald), Skye believes her marriage is going to go the distance. Since she’s only going to have one wedding, it may as well be big. Despite doing a deal with her celebrity chef boss, it’s not long before Skye has gone way over budget.
Adding to the pre-wedding stress, Skye’s maternal grandmother is near death in hospital and her mum, Sophie (Noni Hazlehurst), is having second thoughts about her marriage to Daniel (William McInnes).
Sophie thinks she might need to go away for a little while. Or a long while. She’s not sure; all she knows is she doesn’t want to wake up one day hating Daniel.
Daniel, the stepfather of the title, is also father to Jack (Alex Dimitriades), Lachlan’s best mate. Poor Jack goes off the rails when he learns of the wedding, giving Dimitriades some of Stepfather’s funniest scenes, even if his casting is a little odd (he’s just 12 years younger than McInnes).
Kate Ritchie also makes a cameo as a bridesmaid, her first appearance outside Home and Away.
Despite eloping with his filmmaker wife, Sarah Watt, and bypassing wedding fiascos altogether, McInnes related to the story.
“That whole wedding thing bypassed me completely,” he said on location in Sydney. “I bet you there’d be a temptation for some people to say it’s so ridiculous and indulgent.
“But what Geoffrey Atherden is is a great social commentator. He doesn’t actually really proclaim his views; he’s a great observer so he just sort of puts things in.
“People do spend all this money on weddings, the show is the whole thing. You may think it’s so superficial but underneath is the desire to actually make a statement about the wedding mattering a lot. It really matters to people. I can understand that.”
McInnes also liked the way Atherden portrayed the complex web of family relationships.
“It’s sort of a funny, light story with enough resonance in it to really make people have a bit of a think about things,” he said. “It’s an interesting story because there are lots of fractured families, and different families, but they all sort of co-exist quite happily, which is a really good thing to show.
“Just because you’re separated and go to another family doesn’t mean you can’t have a lot of affection, concern and friendship with your expartner.
“In that sense it’s a very relevant story. Too many shows shove a prescription of what a happy family should be down your throat — mum and dad, two kids, a dog and a station wagon. No one has a right to say what a family is.”
Having completed grim back-toback roles as the mother of heroin addicted characters in the films Candy and Little Fish, Hazlehurst enjoyed the change of pace offered by Sophie.
“Sophie’s at, I suppose, what you would call a bit of a watershed moment in her life,” she said. “Her mother’s dying, her daughter’s getting married and she’s at the point where she realises she’s never been anything but a daughter, a mother or a wife.
“She’s just realising her life is flashing past. I think she is just wondering if this is the level of excitement, is that all it’s going to be for the rest of her life. She’s trying to redefine herself. She has always defined herself by her role for other people.”
Like McInnes, she thinks Atherden has a knack for tapping into real experiences.
“Geoffrey’s skill is in putting together a story where people are believably real but it’s also heightened,” she said. “I enjoy that about his writing and I think he has woven the generations really neatly. He’s clearly at a lovely point in his own life because it’s about what love is and what’s important in life.”
Hazlehurst spent a decade hosting Better Homes and Gardens but is still best recognised for her long stint on Play School, which ended four years ago.
“I love that. To me, it means I have a sort of demographic appeal from two to 102,” she said.
“People regard me like an honorary aunty, which is lovely.”
McInnes and Hazlehurst had not worked together before Stepfather but will again play husband and wife in next year’s ABC telemovie, Before Dawn, about prime minister John Curtin and his wife, Elsie.
Stepfather of the Bride, Sunday, ABC, 8.30pm
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