Everything you need to know about Offspring now it’s finished
OFFSPRING just wrapped up? Don’t worry we have compiled all you need to know - from the Nina lifestyle effect to an exclusive chat with its producer about the future of our favourite show.
Confidential
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OFFSPRING just wrapped up? The tears are still flowing? You feel like the Proudmans have been ripped away from you leaving a giant gaping hole?
Don’t worry we have compiled everything you need to know — from the Nina fashion and lifestyle effect, the secret behind the scarf, to an exclusive chat with uber producer John Edwards about the future of our favourite show.
We have everything you need Offspring related to fill the hole where the Channel Ten show just left us.
NINE THINGS THAT NEED TO HAPPEN ON OFFSPRING
THE UBER PRODUCER
With the cracking season five neatly wrapping up and the Proudmans each on their own separate paths, there was a foreboding sense of fear this could be farewell.
And it is certainly not the first time Australian television producing supremo John Edwards has left us gripped in anticipation that our much loved families from his stellar shows are perhaps never to return.
Just think of Tangle, or worse still Love My Way. The agony. Just ripped away.
So with all the rumours swirling about the end of Offspring, we felt we had to get the producer with the reputation as the “woman whisperer” on the record.
Frustratingly, he said the show’s future was still up in the air.
“We are going through all the steps to work out what we can do,” Edwards said.
“We are trying to sort it out, but we will have to see.”
He said a range of issues — from the rising cost of each episode past the five season mark, to actors and crews contracts and available time — meant it was not as simple as just bringing the show back for a sixth series.
“We should know in a number of weeks, there are a bunch of problems and issues to take care of first.”
Channel 10 chief programming officer Beverley McGarvey reiterated the network would “like to proceed” with a further series and were in discussions.
And what was Edwards favourite moment from the show?
He said he likes the small, simple stuff.
“A single favourite moment? To be honest I loved the prank call just the other week, particularly Nina’s prank call.”
OFFSPRING FACT: The show is filmed mainly around Collingwood, Fitzroy and North Fitzroy.
THE ‘WOMAN WHISPERER’ PRODUCER JOHN EDWARDS
THE NINA EFFECT
From fashion, to property, to interior decorations, the Nina effect is out of control and is infiltrating our daily lives.
There are fashion blogs solely created to pinpoint the staples in Nina’s wardrobe after each episode. There are style blogs with posts all about how to decorate your home like Nina, or dress baby Zoe just like Nina does, or have coffee where Nina goes.
Good grief, there is reportedly even an apartment block being built in Collingwood called Nina.
OFFSPRING FACT: St Francis Hospital where Nina and her colleagues work is not a real hospital. The exteriors were shot in East Melbourne, the interiors shot in a building adapted to a hospital set.
THE COSTUME DESIGNER
We spoke to Nina’s stylist — okay Offspring costume designer Michael Chisolm, the mastermind behind creating her look since the show’s pilot — about the insatiable appetite out there for all things Nina.
“I think her whole character — and the unique way Asher Keddie plays her — has just touched a nerve with people,” Chisolm said.
“Sometimes I go into shops and I hear women say ‘oh that looks sooo Nina’, or ‘did you see what Nina was wearing last night?’
“You realise how much influence you can have.
“Nina gets most of the acknowledgment in terms of her fashion because it is that eclectic look.
“It seems effortless, but it is quite involved putting it all together.
“It is pieces from everywhere, I travel overseas and we have stuff made up.”
He said they have adapted her look over the seasons, often reflecting pivotal moments in her life.
“It was more boho and then we refined it over a period of time,” he said.
Favourite pieces?
“Season three when Asher wore the blue boots was pretty special. Everyone went ballistic over those.”
THE SCARF
And what about the scarf and how does that work with Nina wearing it in the birthing suites?
“We do take a bit of poetic licence,” Chisolm said.
“I was very strong at the start about the scarf because when you’re doing that boho, or eclectic look, where you are taking pieces from both contemporary or sometimes retro, the scarf for me was what helped meld it all together.
“But I thought the character of Nina was a bit uptight, that strangulation sort of thing of her at times, we played on that a bit.”
“But she has evolved too, in the last season it’s less scarf and more jewellery and that’s because her character went through a pretty amazing upheaval and I suppose we made some adjustments to her look.
“We refined it as she was making a new start ... and we want to change her a little. Fashion is one of those things as well. If a woman is fashionable — while its great to have pieces that are timeless — you always throw in something new and that is what we have done with Nina over the period of time.”
THE BABY ZOE FOLLOWING
Forget Prince George, it is all about what baby Zoe is wearing.
Chisolm said some of the Australian designers they have used have sold out whole ranges of their clothes once pictured on baby Zoe a la Prince George.
“A lot of baby Zoe’s costumes come from Oishi:m, a lovely woman in Torquay called Fiona and it is her clothes.
“She actually rang us I think after season one or two and said ‘I have great baby clothes’.
“At that stage we didn’t need them.
“But they were a little bit Nina-ish.
“So we ended up using her range as the bulk of it when Zoe arrived, we do use other things, but the exciting and unusual piece are hers.
“They are all made in Australia and I’m so proud for her as she has developed a bit of a following.”
And don’t think people aren’t out copying Baby Zoe’s nursery items, the Zoe cot — you know the funky roundish one — is supposedly selling through the roof.
OFFSPRING FACT: Baby Zoe Reed’s character is played by Melbourne twins Willow and Mia Sindle.
THE PROUDMAN LIFESTYLE
It is not just Nina who has garnered attention. Everything Proudman related has had a flow on effect.
From Jimmy’s pop-up “taquerias” — yes there is already a blog dedicated to the idea — to the Nina apartments, people are even moving to the inner north to channel their inner-Nina.
Fans can often be seen taking themselves on self-led tours through the Melbourne cafes, bar and street exteriors featured in the show. Visit Victoria even has it referenced.
FACT: Neighbours in the inner northern suburbs have notice increased traffic after the show at places such as the Union Club Hotel — which has featured regularly throughout the series.
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