Wentworth star Bernie Curry: ‘There’s this longevity to Australian shows now’

One of the stars of Aussie favourite Wentworth has lifted the lid on why he thinks the hit show will carry on.

Wentworth star Bernie Curry predicts the AACTAs will turn into a surrogate wrap party for the close-knit cast.

The popular Foxtel show – which is one of the finalists in the Audience Choice drama category – wrapped shooting on the final two-part season in the middle of Melbourne’s 112-day lockdown last year. So the cast and crew didn’t actually get the chance to properly celebrate their enormous achievements.

“Normally, (after 100 episodes) it would have been the biggest wrap party of all time,” Curry, who played prison guard Jason Stewart for 62 episodes, said. “But it was basically ‘you have to leave the studio immediately and go straight home’.

“And then it was ‘when we premiere (on television) we’ll have a party’ but that didn’t happen (due to a new set of lockdowns). Luckily Foxtel and Fremantle are bringing a lot of us back into each other’s company.”

AACTA award nominees Bernard Curry and Susie Porter. Picture: Justin Lloyd.

His co-star Susie Porter, whose on-screen counterpart crime matriarch Marie Winter didn’t survive the brutal final season, didn’t even get to stay on set for the final day. She’s especially looking forward to reuniting with her castmates.

“I feel really grateful to have been part of an Australian show that has lasted 100 episodes,” she said. “A show that has given so many actors an opportunity to work.

“Wentworth will have a life for years to come – that’s what I love with all this stuff being made for streaming.

“Even with Puberty Blues, which finished in 2012, there’s another wave of people discovering it on streaming. There’s this longevity to Australian shows now.”

The AACTA awards presented by Foxtel will be announced at the Opera House on Wednesday and televised on Ten that night. The Audience Choice Awards finalists – which NewsCorp readers voted for in an online poll last month – have been just been released and will also be presented on the night.

Curry said he was humbled that Wentworth had been nominated in, not just the most outstanding drama category, but also by the fans in the most popular section.

“It just reinforces our belief that we made a great show and the audience love it,” he said.

The AACTA Audience Choice Awards finalists are:

FAVOURITE AUSTRALIAN ACTOR

Asher Keddie – Nine Perfect Strangers

Celia Pacquola – Rosehaven

Deborah Mailman – Total Control

Eric Bana – The Dry

Pamela Rabe – Wentworth

FAVOURITE AUSTRALIAN TV DRAMA

Clickbait

Home and Away

Jack Irish

RFDS

Wentworth

FAVOURITE AUSTRALIAN FILM

A Sunburnt Christmas

Mortal Kombat

Penguin Bloom

Peter Rabbit 2: The Runway

The Dry

FAVOURITE AUSTRALIAN REALITY SHOW

Australian Survivor

LEGO Masters Australia

MasterChef Australia

The Block

The Voice

FAVOURITE AUSTRALIAN ENTERTAINMENT SHOW

Anh’s Brush With Fame

Bondi Rescue

Gardening Australia

Gogglebox Australia

Have You Been Paying Attention

FAVOURITE AUSTRALIAN DIGITAL COMEDY CREATOR

Christian Hull

Jimmy Rees

Millie Ford

Sam Cotton

Sooshi Mango

FAVOURITE AUSTRALIAN TV HOST

Adam Hills – Spicks and Specks

Carrie Bickmore – The Project

Costa Georgiadis – Gardening Australia

Hamish Blake – LEGO Masters Australia

Tom Gleeson – Hard Quiz

The 2021 AACTA Awards, Wednesday, 7.30pm, Ten, Encored in the following days on Foxtel and Binge