As Producer John Edwards will tell you Australian Television was in dire need of an overhaul up until "The Secret Life of Us" was born. But born, raised and nurtured it was…and the rest is history. Now, in conjunction with the season 2 DVD launch, Edwards talks to Moviehole about the show’s success and where it’s going.
Q.So how did the show come about?
Fundamentally it had been a number of years since Australia had actually had any successfull series. Actually 9 out of 10 series produced here were esentially failures. Even shows like "SeaChange" and "Blue Heelers" failed to sell overseas. So what we wanted to do is to do a cheap show – as cheap as possible that is – that had some moral grounding, and was something different. Once Channel 4 came on as a partner, we essentially got more money.
Q. So because it was ‘different’ – is that why it’s been so popular?
People recognize it. It’s truthful. They like the attitude it has towards relationships. I mean we have had backlash, but most of the time its accepted.
Q.What backlash?
The episodes where Gab was dating an older bloke, some thought there was too many Gay episodes in the last season and too much Drinking.
Q.Were you surprised that Joel Edgerton up and left?
No not really, we knew it was coming. It’s that kind of show where people will come and they will go. Claudia (Karvan) was originally only supposed to do three episodes actually – and she’s still there.
Q.Would you have liked to have done an audio commentary or more for the DVD release?
Yeah maybe, but Liberation did a great job with the marketing of it anyway. We liked the way they handled the soundtracks so let them run free on this one too. It’s up to them what they do with the DVD.
Q. So Season 3, any new cast additions?
Yes we have three new faces. 2 of them are women, 1 of them is a bloke. We’ve cast the women, the bloke hasn’t been cast yet.
Q.Isn’t the bloke going to be Gabby’s new love interest?
Not necessarily. He lives in the same flat as Gab. That’s all at the moment.
Q.And what about Evan and Alex, will they ever get together?
Ah. You never know. You’ll just have to keep watching. It’s quite possible.
Q.So any spoilers for Season 3?
We’d like everyone to discover it for themselves generally. We have the scripts, and they read well. Some quite genuinely unusual characters next season though.
Q.So how long do you think the show will last?
No idea. There’s just no way of telling.
Order "Secret Life of Us Season 2" on DVD Here