First Review: Bed of Roses

ABC viewers love their Saturday nights.

Feelgood UK dramedy Doc Martin is the network’s biggest show of the week. It’s night for older viewers, is so successful even Seven has tried to hijack the audience with UK comedies and Michael Palin documentaries (it didn’t work).

So should we really be surprised to see a first-run local drama series slated for Saturdays, over its traditional Sunday format?

Against stiff Sunday competition,the quirky East of Everything hasn’t quite hit the heights the network wanted. Rain Shadow too was critically praised but without bumper figures.

Having viewed the premiere episode, it’s not hard to see why the network has placed its newest 6 part drama on Saturdays.

This is a warm-spirited, genial tale full of quiet charm and likable characters. When other television dramas are full of murder, sex, conceited characters or consciously seeking to blur genre lines, here is a story that isn’t anywhere near as ambitious. And it’s a blessing.

One of the strongest aspects of Bed of Roses’ storytelling is in its point of view. There is a clear through-line pushing the trials of Louisa Atherton (Kerry Armstrong). Unlike ensemble dramas, she appears in almost every scene.

The tale opens in a wealthy city ‘McMansion’, with Louisa farewelling her husband on another interstate business trip. At 49, she leads a busy, affluent life only interrupted by a phone call telling her that hubby has had a heart attack. The news is made even worse with the news that not only did he leave her bankrupt, but he was having an affair. The world as Louisa has known it, has evaporated seemingly before her eyes -and for viewers in the first seven minutes of the teleplay. It’s quick, clear, turning-point writing that fast-forwards us into the driver’s seat.

Louisa has no option but to sell the family home, and move back home to mother, Minna (Julia Blake), in the country. She drags daughter Holly (Hanna Mangan-Lawrence) kicking and screaming. For the two Athertons it is a loss of pride and the ultimate in uncool -much will be mined from generational conflict. Holly is also unaware of her father’s indiscretions, nicely bolstering audience empathy for the principal character.

In the lazy town of Rainbow’s End, Louisa meets old school mates and family friends each with their own take on how she should tackle life’s problems. Charactor actors like Caroline Gillmer (Underbelly, Brides of Christ) and Kaarin Fairfax (One Night the Moon, SeaChange) share this story’s female voice. It is no surprise therefore to note its writers are also women: Jutta Goetze (Always Greener, McLeod’s Daughters) & Elizabeth Coleman (Secret Life of Us, SeaChange).

But it is produced by two men, Stephen Luby & Mark Ruse, who achieved such success when working with Jane Turner and Gina Riley. Shifting from comedy to drama has not diminished this formula.

Armstrong is terrific in the lead role, exuding courage and vulnerability from Louisa, a woman struggling to take control. She teeters between forthright determination and a convincingly clumsy fish out of water. Viewers who warmed to her work as ‘Heather Jelly’ SeaChange will not be disappointed.

Bed of Roses makes a strong case for quality drama on Saturday nights (especially followed by the return of Big Love on SBS at 8:30pm). Here’s hoping it holds up across the remaining 5 episodes.

Bed of Roses premieres 7:30pm Saturday on ABC1.