Josh Lawson sinks the ship as larrikin Paul Hogan in Channel 7’s new telemovie Hoges

Paul Hogan is one of Australia’s favourite rags-to-riches tales. But will Channel 7’s telemovie about his life kill off our obsession for Aussie icon biopics?

Hoges could be the tipping point for our obsession with biopics of cherished Aussie icons.

In other words, we’ve reached peak celebrity biopic.

A renewed interest in Australian drama has seen Molly Meldrum, Peter Brock, Peter Allen, Bob Hawke and INXS’s Michael Hutchence immortalised on the small screen, and with the exception of Brock, these were largely successful.

Comedian Paul Hogan is the latest big-name to get the two-part miniseries treatment, and sadly, Hoges doesn’t do him justice.

The main problem with Hoges is the main bloke playing Hoges.

Hoges (Josh Lawson) with sidekick Delvene Delaney (Nikki Osborne). (Pic: Channel 7)

Aussie comedian Josh Lawson has worked on the voice, the attitude, the stance. But he’s fighting a battle already lost with the dreadful mop they’ve perched on his head.

Lawson is a distinctive looking bloke playing another distinctive looking bloke. And they are distinctly different.

If you squint at the screen it’s all right in parts.

Young Hoges (Sean Keenan, Puberty Blues, Glitch) is a larrikin, who meets Noelene (first played by Marny Kennedy, then in the latter years, Justine Clarke), and they have a bunch of kids.

They’re proper battlers: he’s a rigger on the Sydney Harbour Bridge, which provides a spectacular backdrop for work scenes.

Ryan Corr as Hoges’s mate Strop, and Nikki Osborne as Delvene. (Pic: Channel 7)

Backed by a savvy young TV producer, John Cornell (Ryan Corr), Hogan’s first taste of success sees the family move to grander digs as he earns big bucks — $30 a week — for a TV spot.

“I’d have done it for a fiver and a pack of chewy,” Lawson as Hoges quips.

Then there’s Noelene, who bandies about more flamin’ hells than Home and Away’s Alf Stewart, which is ironic, since Clarke played his daughter, Roo on the long-running soap.

Clearly she learned from the best.

Hogan’s comedy was risque back then, but it hasn’t aged well. This might give older viewers a warm and fuzzy sense of nostalgia, as a long-suffering Delvene Delaney (Nikki Osborne) parades about in a string of bikinis; but some will find it cringe-worthy.

The story telling flows more smoothly towards the end of part one, and we leave off as Hogan’s Crocodile Dundee co-star Linda Kozlowski (Laura Gordon) arrives on the scene, chatting with a friend in a cafe.

That’s not a knife ... Lawson re-enacts Hogan’s most famous scene. (Pic: Channel 7)

“You’re Dustin Hoffman, I’m Linda nobody from Connecticut,” she explains, helpfully.

Lawson has acknowledged it’s risky to play a comedy hero, and it feels odd to watch him re-enact some of Hogan’s most memorable moments.

Never Tear Us Apart: The Untold Story of Inxs benefited from having little-known Luke Arnold in the lead role.

Molly was outstanding for its soundtrack, genuinely fascinating story and a stunning performance by Sam Johnson. Ditto Peter Allen: Not the Boy Next Door.

Ten’s Brock was arguably the first biopic to go wide of the mark, with viewers quickly falling away, suggesting the love for telemovies was on the wane.

But too much is never enough for the networks, who will continue to flog this horse until every last Aussie icon has been brought to life on the small screen.

Still to come are biopics about golden girl Olivia Newton John (played by Delta Goodrem) and (I confess a morbid interest here) a series about the shenanigans of cricketer Shane Warne, who is never far from the headlines.

Let’s hope we’re all still watching.

Hoges: The Paul Hogan Story premieres 8.30pm on Channel 7

Anna Brain is News Corp Australia’s national TV critic

Originally published as Josh Lawson sinks the ship as larrikin Paul Hogan in Channel 7’s new telemovie Hoges