Frayed: Black comedy, drama and desperation in 1980s Newcastle
Set in 1980s Newcastle, Aussie comedy Frayed is the antithesis of shows like Home And Away says star George Houvardas, with critics already labelling it the next Big Little Lies.
Confidential
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GEORGE Houvardas has likened new ABC comedy series Frayed to an anti Home And Away.
“It is drugs, alcohol, depression, all of that,” the actor told Confidential. “The actual shooting of it, it is very gritty, earthy and orange colours, showing the contrast between Newcastle in Australia and London where some of the characters come from originally.”
Frayed premiered last week on the ABC and will screen again tonight at 9.10pm.
The series has already launched in the UK, where critics have compared it to Big Little Lies because of the strong female driven characters.
Set in 1980s Newcastle, the series follows the journey of Sammy Cooper (Sarah Kendall) a wealthy London housewife forced to return to her hometown in Newcastle, Australia.
It also stars Diane Morgan, Matt Passmore Kerry Armstrong and Doris Younane.
“It is definitely the anti Home And Away but the writing is so much better,” he said. “In terms of what it is portraying and the Australia it is portraying. It is not the clean cut image people might be used to and I think that is what will get people off guard.”
Meanwhile, there has been talk of Packed To The Rafters returning to our screens with the original cast. Houvardas, who played Nick ‘Carbo’ Karandonis on Rafters from 2008 to 2013, said he’d be open to the show making a comeback.
The original series starred Rebecca Gibney, Erik Thomson, Michael Caton, Angus McLaren, Hugh Sheridan, Zoe Ventoura and Jessica Marais.
“There is a fair bit of chit chat,” he said. “If they do choose to bring it back I will definitely look into it. If they did do it, you’d have to have everyone on board.”
Originally published as Frayed: Black comedy, drama and desperation in 1980s Newcastle