Sue (Brenna Harding) & Debbie (Ashleigh Cummings)
While Cronulla may have copped a beating of late for it’s association with other shows or the memories of some ugly behaviour in the name of “patriotism”, what we’re presented with is a much more innocent Sutherland Shire. Kids are free to roam the streets during the day, everyone meets at the Club on Friday nights for dinner and the kids entertain themselves in the car park while their parents get on the drink, and it’s all about what’s happening down the beach. It looks spectacular, and the attention to detail shown in the shot selection, make up (especially hair/moustache styling) and costuming transports you back to a time of Sunny Boys, Splices & 70’s Aussie music blaring out of the back of panel vans. There are however darker secrets to these sunny suburbs that form the heart of this deliciously Australian story.
The casting of Cummings (Debbie Vickers) & Harding (Sue Knight) is spot on and the girls reflect the innocence of the time, as well as portray a great camaraderie on screen. Their parents – Jeremy Lindsay Taylor (Martin Vickers), Claudia Karvan (Judy Vickers), Dan Wyllie (Roger Knight) & Susie Porter (Pam Knight) – look amazing in costume and establish their characters and mirror the sexual tension bubbling throughout the 70’s note perfect. Lindsay Taylor again proves himself to be a chameleonic actor of note in his portrayal of the buttoned-down, straight-laced Martin, while Porter is divine as the Wife & Mother seeking to redefine herself and engage with her sexuality at a time when everything around her is changing. Rodger Corser as Ferris Hennessey shines as an absent dad engrossed in work up in Sydney (among other things) that renders one of the atypical father figures many will relate to, and at the centre of Gary Hennessey’s (Sean Keenan) rebellion.
While there’s no graphic nudity in the first episode (a couple of naked bums from Wyllie & Porter as they run into the sea one night for a skinny dip), the content reflects the coming of age story. Debbie & Sue want to be part of the ‘cool kids’ gang and are willing to do almost anything to gain acceptance from the group. They’re seeing boys and forming relationships (as well as ceasing them – “You’re dropped”), and despite the loving attention from their parents in its various forms are seeking to establish their individual identities as a part of the unique time and culture they’re living in.
If all eight episodes are as engaging and enveloping as the first episode of Puberty Blues then the Australian drama-loving public will flock to the series as seagulls to a discarded chip at the beach, and deservedly so.
Puberty Blues – Wed 15/08 8:30pm, Ch10.
Thanks for this review…. For some reason I was thinking the show was a current-day version and wondered how it would all translate.
I saw the original as a kid (albeit a bit younger and FAR more innocent than those portrayed in the book / movie) so was shocked by the drugs, sex etc. I excitedly watched it years later as an adult – only to be shocked by the wooden acting and, well, the naiveté of it all!
How times change. Wonder what I’ll think this time around, though I suspect the 2012 version will be a bit more sophisticated than the original. (I like to think we’ve evolved a lot since then – in terms of screenwriting, dialogue etc)
Deb
I am a long-time viewer (since 1966). I especially like retrospective pseudo-biographical programs such as what I believe the series ‘Puberty Blues’ will be. However, the detail needs to be correct, otherwise it simply grates on the viewer every time an anomaly crops up, or it appears to be ‘revisionist history’.
The lack of cigarette smoke in the pub scenes for the movie ‘Red Dog’ was a classic example; the producer admitted on the DVD he was actually proud that Roadshow forced them to show neither cigarettes nor smoke! (Alcohol consumption, however, was freely shown – 2000s hypocrisy at work again, as alcohol causes more worldwide misery from death, injury, disease and family breakdown than any other stimulant). If the smoking of cigarettes is not shown somewhere in ‘Puberty Blues’ I shall switch off, as cigarette smoking was commonplace then and it would be wrong to exclude it. I am a non-smoker, by the way.
Although ‘Puberty Blues’ has not aired yet, I noted in the ad that the schoolgirl’s parent pronounces the word ‘school’ to rhyme with ‘bull’, rather than ‘poo’. I would presume that the same person would pronounce the word ‘pool’ to rhyme with ‘pull’ as well. Although this is an error that is commonplace nowadays, having lived in Sydney in the 1970s I can assure you that NO ADULTS made this mistake, nor did their children (although they made plenty of others!) unless they were foreigners (eg. from Scotland, etc!). Unfortunately this indicates that the language research, at least, was done by younger people who did not know what voice inflections to look for.
As I feel that inattention to detail contributed a good deal to the drop in viewer numbers for ‘The Shire’, I hope Channel Ten does not let the same thing happen to ‘Puberty Blues’.
Hi John – I can allay at least one of your concerns: There is *plenty* of cigarette smoke in Puberty Blues.