Puberty Blues stars Brenna Harding and Ashleigh Cummings are mates on screen and off

MOST actors would run if a punter who saw them in the street yelled, “game on moll”, but Breanna Harding and Ashleigh Cummings take it in their stride.

MOST actors would run for cover if a punter who recognised them in the street yelled, “game on moll”.

Brenna Harding and Ashleigh Cummings, however, have taken such catcalls in
their stride.

For the stars of Puberty Blues, what would once have been an insult in the schoolyard, has become a term of endearment from fans who recognise them from the TV drama set in the 1970s.

Harding, 17, and Cummings, 21, play best friends Sue and Debbie, and reprise those Puberty Blues roles this week in the second season of the Channel 10 show.

The lingo of the era in which the show is set — terms such as “deadset perve’, “ya moll”, “rack off’ and the devastating “you’re dropped”, was embraced by the show’s teen fans first time round.

News_Image_File: Firm friends ... Ashleigh Cummings and Brenna Harding as Debbie and Sue in Puberty Blues

Harding laughingly confesses fans would call them out to her on the street — not to insult her, but to celebrate “seeing Sue”.

“When the show was on air, for a little while I’d go out with hats and sunglasses to try to avoid getting followed in the shops,” Harding confesses. “It was mostly 12 to 16 year-old girls, and while it was lovely because they liked Sue and liked the show, the downside was I couldn’t go out without washing my hair or looking presentable.

“My friends thought it was hilarious and occasionally they’d be menaces and start yelling, ‘Sue, Sue, Puberty Blues’, to draw attention to me.”

Recognition of a more formal nature came at last year’s Logies, when quiet achiever Harding won the Logie for Most Popular New Female Talent. She tearfully thanked “two women, my beautiful mothers — biological mum Vicki and partner Jackie Braw”, in her acceptance speech.

The revelation, which would have caused a scandal in the Puberty Blues era, raised barely a ripple. It was a far cry from the first time Harding and her two mums were on television — in a 2004 episode of Play School, which prompted national debate and was dubbed “Gay School”.

News_Image_File: Mum’s the word ... Brenna Harding with her mums Vicki and Jackie.

Today, Harding still can’t see what the fuss is about, as her gorgeous and simple Logies speech made clear.

“It’s natural that you think about the special people you will mention, just in case you win,” she says. “Up there on the stage, I was kind of overwhelmed by the fact people were smiling and clapping and supportive and it was really lovely to see.

“I knew Ashleigh was sitting at home cheering me on, and then I thought of my mum up in the hotel room and Jackie back in Sydney, and it was really cool.”

Two days later, Harding was back at school, hitting the books like any other year 11 student.

Fans of Puberty Blueswill be happy to know the chemistry between Harding and Cummings seen in season one as inseparable best friends is back.

News_Image_File: On screen family ... Puberty Blues stars Susie Porter (Pam Knight) Brenna Harding (Sue Knight) and Dan Wyllie (Roger Knight) Picture: Channel 10

The young actors remain firm friends off-screen, despite new challenges.

Just as Debbie and Sue are separated on-screen when Debbie is spirited off to boarding school, Cummings and Harding found it hard to grab moments off-screen to nourish their friendship.

“Brenna and I couldn’t be together for as much time off set, which was a shame because I love her to death,” says Cummings.

Cummings was doing double-duty, filming both Puberty Blues and the second series of Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries for the ABC. She was regularly flying to Sydney to become Debbie, then back to Melbourne to become her Miss Fisher persona, Dot.

“There were a few times when I’d say, ‘hang on, can we do another take because I’ve just done a Debbie when I should have been doing a Dot’,” Cummings says.

Meanwhile, Harding was juggling school with learning lines and filming.

Puberty Blues, Channel 10, Wednesday, 8.30pm