Offspring star Rick Davies: From Jimmy Proudman to Presto’s new series Let’s Talk About

TO Offspring fans, Rick Davies has come to be loved as the endearing and entrepreneurial man child Jimmy Proudman — he’s about to deliver another heartwarming performance.

TO Offspring fans, Rick Davies has come to be loved as the endearing and entrepreneurial man child Jimmy Proudman — that mate who has a crack at anything and everything in life, only to settle into the unexpected delight of being a great dad.

Now, before he reprises that role with the rest of the Logie-winning ensemble cast, he’s about to deliver another heartwarming performance as a “work in progress” bloke called Ben in Presto’s new series, Let’s Talk About (streaming from Wednesday).

The premise of the short-form season — 10 episodes of six minutes each, written by his co-star Matilda Brown — kicks off when Ben (Davies) and Claire (Brown) discover they are expecting, just weeks into their fledgling relationship.

Richard Davies as Jimmy in a scene from Offspring.

Davies narrates: “it’s only six weeks deep and this is a bit of a bombshell. Up until then,
I think (Ben) is quite an affable nice guy, but he sort of lives a pretty selfish existence”. A part-time clown at kids’ parties, “he lives for the end of the day when he just comes home, cracks a stubby open and thinks about what he wants to do next”.

Wrestling with the idea of being a couple and the prospect of becoming parents, the drama unfolds over the nine months of the pregnancy, with Brown’s dad Bryan playing her on-screen dad Barry. Lisa Hensley, Steve Le Marquand and Bruce Spence complete the ensemble cast.

Agreeing to play a part before seeing a script, Davies said: “We shot it in a week, but it was a really busy week and geez we had fun. The crew had a bloody hoot doing it.”

Before filming on Offspring begins again in April next year, the National Theatre Melbourne graduate is set to star in a Screen Australia-funded web series called Bruce (a dark comedy retelling of the First Fleet landing); with another feature film 2:22 (starring Teresa Palmer, Remy Hii, and Simone Kessell) due out early 2016. The new life given to Offspring was an unexpected joy for Davies who had thought the Channel 10 series was dead and buried.

“Now that we’ve got all that history with each other, coming back and getting the band back together again will be a lot of fun,” he said.

Let's Talk About also stars Bryan Brown and Lisa Hensley. Picture: Presto

Silvia’s still on the boil, even after being left off SBS menu

SHE is one of the most dazzling new talents on Australian TV, but food femme fatale Silvia Colloca is exploring another small screen home after SBS decided against adding her to its Food Network menu.

The glaring omission of the glamorous cook and sometime opera singer in the broadcaster’s sizzle reel for 2016 prompted questions to SBS management, who confirmed there would be no second serving of her scrumptious series Made In Italy.

Instead, an SBS spokeswoman said the new Food Network, launching on November 17, would be “an acquisitions channel”, featuring mostly international programming, including The Barefoot Contessa, Curtis Stone’s Beach Eats USA and Giada De Laurentiis’ At Home series.

But a call to her show’s local producers should reassure her many loyal fans that Colloca’s career is still very much on the boil (three puns, and I’m out, folks).

FremantleMedia Australia chief executive Ian Hogg told me this week: “I am absolutely certain Silvia will be on our screens in 2016.”

Silvia Colloca.

The Back Page host Tony Squires.

TV Gossip: Smith’s gift for Squires

FOX Sports celebrated the exit of NRL boss Dave Smith last week, a move which proved a gift for Back Page host Tony Squires (who has signed a new three-year deal): “A lot of people thought when the season finished all the shows would go, but given we do a bit of everything, we’re on until December and thought, ‘what are we going to talk about?’ Suddenly, the gift that is rugby league continues to give, it’s been great.”

Anastasia and Faye from Gogglebox.

Don’t Miss: Laugh along with Gigglebox Australia

IF you’re not one of the 720,000 people who watched Gogglebox Australia last week — right after that rose was delivered — well, you’re missing out on the laugh of the week. Forget LOL-ing cats and misogynist Mark Latham, I think the ‘boxers deliver some of the most astute social, political and TV commentary around; especially Anastasia, who takes no rubbish from anyone. Get in line: 9.30pm Wed (Lifestyle), Thursday (Channel 10).