Prime Video: Miranda Tapsell talks Top End Bub series after Top End Wedding success
‘I really wanted to send a love letter to the community I grew up in’: Ahead of the release of Top End Bub, Miranda Tapsell sat down with the NT News to share why she’s so excited for audiences to see it. See the first-look images here.
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Ahead of the release of Top End Bub, Top End Wedding writer and star Miranda Tapsell sat down with the NT News to talk about the next chapter in Lauren and Ned’s married life.
Top End Bub, an Amazon Original series, will across eight half-hour long episodes follow Lauren, played by Tapsell, an Aboriginal woman from Darwin and Ned (Gwilym Lee), her husband, as they navigate a significant life change: the adoption of Lauren’s niece, Taya ‘Bub’ (played by Gladys-May Kelly), after she becomes orphaned.
Lauren, a lawyer and Ned, whose characters have built a life in Adelaide, make the decision to relocate to the Top End to raise Taya.
This event forces the pair to re-evaluate their priorities, and poses fresh challenges to their lives as a married couple.
“It is, essentially, a fish-out-of-water story,” Tapsell, a Larrakia woman, told this masthead.
“Them having a sea-change does certainly force them to question what they want, not only out of their relationship, but their lives and careers.”
The series was created, written and executive produced by Joshua Tyler and Miranda, who had also worked together for Top End Wedding.
“I think it was so special to return, as a series,” Tapsell said.
“I felt like I had gained this beautiful new friendship with Gwilym, and I think everyone on the set had built this incredible camaraderie.
“The Territory was a really big part of that; it’s the pace, it’s the climate and the environment.
“It’s just so different to Sydney and Melbourne and other big cities. It really does change you as a person.”
The series, produced by Goalpoast Pictures and ZDF Studios, puts under a microscope family relationships and dynamics – in all of their forms, their highs and lows.
“We really wanted to showcase the small-town mentality of Darwin that everyone is really willing to help each other out and it’s not just one person that looks after a child,” Tapsell said.
“It’s often uncles, aunties and I mean – obviously we are specifically showing this through the eyes of an Aboriginal woman and an Aboriginal family – an intergenerational and interracial family. But essentially, that is the Darwin I grew up with.
“You’d ask your neighbour if you ran out of some eggs or milk or bread … so that is the real beating heart of the show.
Culture is a massive driving force for Tapsell, and it certainly carries through as a theme in Top End Bub.
“This show humanises the Aboriginal characters and shows they can make mistakes, they can resent one another and love one another at the same time,” she said.
“That’s just so important for people to see. I feel that sometimes the way Aboriginal people can be depicted in the media is not in a positive spotlight and as an artist I feel it can be really empowering to take the people I know and put them in a better light.”
“I’m really proud in how we depicted the Aboriginal community in the Northern Territory.”
Tapsell said families of all walks of life would resonate and enjoy the series, which again showed audiences that sometimes, families are deeper than a blood connection.
“All the people that loved the film are going to love the series, because we have really taken everything that is special about it, put it in a bottle and put it into this series,” she said.
“We wanted this show to celebrate all different kinds of families.
“Not every family is made up of the husband, the wife and the biological child; there are so many ways that a family can be built.
“I really wanted to send a love letter to the community I grew up in, and because I felt that all the cousins and aunties I grew up with, played a big part in my childhood, so it was really important for people to see that this Aboriginal community really does thrive and loves the children that are part of the community.”
Describing the series as a “heartwarming, funny, gem” Tapsell said it did not matter if audiences binge-watched or took their time watching the show – as long as they made it a family event.
“It can be quite hard to find a show that everyone will be happy with, and I truly believe –because this is how I grew up – I watched multi-generational shows with my parents, and we would tune in every Sunday at 7.30pm to watch these shows together,” she said.
“I really believe Top End Bub is the kind of show that families will be able to watch (together).”
Top End Bub will premiere in 2025 on Prime Video in Australia and New Zealand.
The author travelled to Sydney as a guest of Prime Video.
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Originally published as Prime Video: Miranda Tapsell talks Top End Bub series after Top End Wedding success
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