Double trouble
Michael Caton and Roy Billing have been cast so many times together, they’ll soon become Australia’s own Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon: a comic character duo.
Both have been cast in Seven’s upcoming Packed to the Rafters, the fourth joint project in recent years. And as Michael Caton told TV Tonight, they are having a bit of fun with the habit.
“It’s a running joke between Roy Billing and I. Now I don’t do anything unless Roy does it,” he laughed.
“It started off with Dossa and Joe that we did for the BBC, and then when we were doing Bad Cop Bad Cop I said to (writer) Ian David, ‘you’ve got to have Roy Billing in this.’ And then Strange Bedfellows, who’s the head of the fire brigade? Roy Billing! And now we’re doing this again!”
Caton plays the role of Ted, father to Rebecca Gibney’s Julie Rafter, while Billing (below) plays her boss.
Caton said his role is not as prominent as some of the younger cast members, due to the heavy workload required.
“When they approached me I said ‘I just couldn’t handle doing 5 days a week.’ My part is a little to the side. I’m not in the middle of it all of the time,” he explained.
“Sometimes I’m just a presence and sometimes I’ll be a heavy presence but not on a weekly basis. I’m getting too old in the tooth for day in, day out. It is a grind. I’m watching these young people and they’re working. You can see them going ‘wow.’
“Some days I come and and they hate me in there because I’m not carrying the same sort of load they are.”
Caton is hopeful that Australia takes to the show’s mix of light and shade, but he isn’t taking anything for granted. He won’t rest easy until the show has been airing for a few weeks, which is when producers are likely to get some indication of the show’s future life.
“You won’t know the first day. About three or four weeks later you’ll know what your fate is. I had it explained carefully to me by Erik Thomson.”
Packed to the Rafters premieres 8:30pm Tuesday on Seven.
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