Rodger Corser guest stars in Aussie TV drama Five Bedrooms

Aussie TV royalty Rodger Corser has said goodbye to Doctor Doctor after five years and will now guest star in a popular new Aussie drama as he looks for his next big gig.

He’s Aussie TV royalty – but right now, Rodger Corser is just like every other dad in NSW. Dealing with bored kids who just want to go to footy training, the horror of homeschooling, looking for the next big gig, and all the while, doing Dry July in the name of good mates who’ve gotten some bad news, too soon.

The 48-year-old father of four has said goodbye to hit Mudgee-filmed drama Doctor Doctor after five years, and is about to guest star in series two of Five Bedrooms, playing Kat Stewart’s ex-husband, Stuart.

“The character was in name only in series one so he is the reason why Liz (Kat Stewart) is a 40-year-old woman flatting with mates because they talk about this husband who ran off with the fortune and ruined her life. They decided to put a face to the name in season two and so when they think of philanderers, (creator) Michael Lucas thinks of me straight away,” Corser laughs.

“I was originally only supposed to be in that first episode but Covid hit when they were shooting at the start of 2020 and some of the plans changed, some of the actors’ availability changed, so they had a bit of a rethink.

Rodger Corser will guest star in season two of Five Bedrooms.

“Production was shut down for a few months and they still had half a series to shoot – so they wrote me back in. It was one of those rare occasions where Covid has had an advantage to someone’s career.”

The premise behind Five Bedrooms – where five unlikely friends buy a house together as a means of entering the property market – is more relatable than ever, given Sydney’s real estate market is harder to get into than ever before.

“The divide between the haves and the have nots in real estate, where people got in early and can use the property market to their advantage and buy their fourth and fifth house – and then there’s the other end of the scale where it has become more and more unattainable, even for people on decent wages,” Corser says.

“It’s a high and higher percentage of the annual wage that solutions like this could become more prevalent. It’s something people can relate to.

“I had a blast and it was kind of all key no responsibility because there was a great ensemble cast who shouldered the weight of the responsibility of the storylines.

“I get to come in and have a bit of fun, which was fantastic.”

Corser lives in Sans Souci, in Sydney’s south, with the beauty of Botany Bay a short walk away.

It’s a view keeping wife Renae Berry and children Budd, 10, daughter Cilla, nine, and almost six-year-old son Dustin, sane during Sydney’s extended lockdown.

Corser also has 18-year-old daughter Zipporah, who he shares with ex-partner and famed Aussie singer Christine Anu.

Rodger Corser and Kat Stewart in Five Bedrooms.

Their busy brood may be chaotic in lockdown, but a miracle all the same, after fellow actor Renae was diagnosed with cervical cancer before the couple were married. They were told not only that she would never be able to have children, but that she wasn’t likely to live longer than four years.

So being here, together, almost two decades later, is everything.

“We have been so lucky,” Corser says.

“We’ve been together 16 years and married for about 13, and that whole drama was before we were married, so it doesn’t necessarily impact our day to day these days like it did back then.

“And we’re not the only people in the world obviously who go through moments like that. We’ve got a lot of friends at the moment who have been given some bad news lately and it’s more common than what you think.

“If you have been faced with adversity it’s all how you face it.

“We got some initial bad diagnosis and the one thing we did learn about that is a second opinion is quite important because we found someone else who decided to tackle that issue a different way, and there was a much better outcome because of that.

“She was incredibly strong and we were – to use the common word, blessed – with quite a large family now.

Rodger Corser and his wife Renae Berry in 2019. Picture: AAP/Joel Carrett

“To be told we couldn’t have children, and then we couldn’t stop.

“It was like wow, another one coming, and another – going from one extreme to another, hence our lockdown homeschooling is never dull.

“Especially when it’s raining and WWIII going off,” he joked.

With the three youngest kids in primary school, Corser and Renae share the homeschooling – Budd is more self-sufficient, but Dustin, who is in Kindergarten, needs constant attention.

“With the Kindergarten curriculum you’ve got to be there the whole time, singing songs with them – which is all great, but if you’ve got other things to do, it’s so time intensive you can’t do anything else,” Corser says.

“The sun’s out today so we might put the books away for an hour and make the most of it.”

Trying to use lockdown to get fitter and healthier, Corser is also a self-confessed ‘glutton for punishment’ and is homeschooling alcohol-free for Dry July. But if you ask him, it’s the least he can do.

“We’ve had a few friends who have been given some bad news over the last few months and they have to go through chemo and do other things and you just go – in the grand scheme of things, a few glasses of wine every night is a very small thing you can do,” he says.

“It’s a colleague I’ve worked with and they’ve been part of your family for years – you just try and let them know you’re there, that you’re thinking of them – you just think what if you were in the same position.

“It’s hard for some people when friends get given bad diagnosis of cancer or other things – and I think that’s the time you have to rally around your mates and let them know you’re there, as opposed to ‘it’s a bit awkward so I’ll go missing’, which some people do.”

Rodger Corser will play Kat Stewart’s former husband in Five Bedrooms.

Corser was a producer for several seasons on Doctor Doctor so saying goodbye after five years was sad. But after 20 years in the industry, the Underbelly and Puberty Blues star knows you can’t just sit around waiting for the phone to ring.

“Shows – as in episode orders – are shorter and shorter, so it seems like you’re everywhere if you’re on two or three shows in two years – but for instance in Five Bedrooms I’m in four episodes and some of them are only one or two scenes per episode, so you go that was all of 15 days work,” he says.

“Doctor Doctor was obviously a lot more intensive … but put all those days together and it may equate to five months’ work in 18 months, so it’s always just trying to string the next one together.

“Having said that, I do feel lucky because it’s a difficult industry to have longevity in, especially when you’ve got a family. A lot of my friends and colleagues have diversified into other things just to be able to survive.”

Corser says the road to producing and creating is one he’s keen to follow, telling Insider his foray in front of the camera was a “happy accident”, given he originally studied film and television, not acting.

“Producing has always been an interest, because eventually people aren’t going to give you gigs anymore you’ll be too old or they’ll move on to someone else – so you’ve got to create your own work,” he admits.

“There are great actors who have done well because of their talent, but I’ve found that people who are creating content as well, that’s where the work is really – people are craving content, internationally.

“I felt like it was not enough just to wait for the phone to ring, so the next thing will probably be something I’ve had a hand in creating.”

Five Bedrooms season two is available to stream exclusively on Paramount+ from August 11