Last days of filming for Australian TV drama success A Place to Call Home
AS the final scenes of A Place to Call Home are filmed this week, two of the show’s stars reveal the emotional rollercoaster the cast and crew of one of Australia’s most successful TV dramas of all time are experiencing.
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IT’S the end of an era for these actors, well, the end of a period drama anyway.
Abby Earl and Arianwen Parkes-Lockwood, with the rest of the cast and crew, held back tears and hugged their way through the last days of filming for Aussie drama A Place To Call Home.
“I just stepped off the make up truck for the last time this morning, the chair that I’ve sat in for six years,” said Arianwen Parkes-Lockwood, who played Olivia Bligh
“We’re continuously almost crying as we look at each other, every scene has an emotional tinge to it. I’ve been hugging people a lot.”
Earl, who played on-screen sister-in-law Olivia Bligh added: “You look around at the crew and think we’ll never all be hanging out … it’ll never be like this again.”
“And if I let myself go down that rabbit hole it’ll be too much and I won’t get the job done.”
The drama was axed after two years on Channel 7 but a campaign by fans led Foxtel to commission the next four series. It has since become a hit in the US and the UK.
Set in a fictional rural NSW town after World War II, the show airs in 120 countries, making it one of the most successful Australian dramas of all time.
Other stars of the show are Noni Hazlehurst, Brett Climo and Marta Dusseldorp.
This week final scenes, which will air on Foxtel’s Showcase channel from August 19, were shot at Swifts mansion in Darling Point and custom built soundstages in Concord.
“We’ve said goodbye to it before, but this time, because it’s been a while coming and we’re shooting the end of our characters’ storylines, that makes it really feel final,” said Parkes-Lockwood.
Hugging her friend, Earl added: “I’m so proud to have been a part of a show like this, it looks so stunning. We are in the age of television and it really holds its own.”