Source : the age
In the new Australian hospital drama The F Ward, there’s a lot of talk about mistakes and second chances. A group of embattled medical interns is given a last chance when they’re sent to a teaching hospital on Sydney’s northern beaches. Each has previously stuffed up in ways that could be career-ending. Now, under all manner of pressure, from power cuts and problematic patients to a no-nonsense supervisor, they have the chance to prove themselves.
This idea of characters messing up and struggling, often-clumsily, to get their lives back on track is common in a show from John Edwards. One of Australia’s most successful and significant creative forces, this prolific writer and producer has been steadily making TV about the messiness and complexity of human relations since the mid-’80s.
From The Secret Life of Us to Love My Way to Offspring to Bump, his series often focus on people’s fallibility and fragility; their impulsive or destructive decisions; the liberating though possibly damaging rebellions; the heady but possibly reckless affairs. And, alongside that, sits the possibility of redemption, as identifiable almost 40 years ago in Police Rescue as it is today in The F Ward.
Over the decades, Edwards has been involved in productions on four of the five free-TV networks (Seven, Nine, Ten and the ABC) and a number of subscription services (Foxtel, Stan, Paramount+). His CV, too extensive to cover comprehensively here, includes the cops ‘n’ docs staples of police and medical shows, as well as period pieces and series focusing on sport, politics, media and family life.
A cursory scan of his credits reveals some standouts: the propulsive police series Rush (2008-11); the dramatisation of the great cricket schism in Howzat! Kerry Packer’s War (2012); the evocative revisiting of the ’70s in Paper Giants: The Birth of Cleo (2012); the irresistible antics of the Proudmans in Offspring (2010-17). And a couple of less prominent but audacious efforts: reworking Anna Karenina in The Beautiful Lie (2015) and the gritty hospital drama, The Surgeon (2005).
Amid the host of productions that bear Edwards’ name as a producer or executive producer, there’s a particularly consequential string of loosely connected series – almost a spine through the body of work. It’s a choice selection of shows that resists neat generic categorisation and that portrays the challenges of life over generations. It begins with the spirited twenty-somethings of The Secret Life of Us (2001-04), moves on to the troubled thirty-somethings of Love My Way (2004-07), and then to the fraught forty-somethings of Tangle (2009-12). This trio will soon become a quartet with the arrival of Dalliance on Paramount+, which turns its attention to life, love, regret and death among sixtysomethings and features a cast including Heather Mitchell, Hugo Weaving, Georgie Parker and David Wenham.
These are original drama series created for TV, but if the impressive adaptation of Kathy Lette’s Puberty Blues (2012-14), dealing with teenagers and their troubled parents, is added to the list, Edwards’ shows span an even broader spectrum of life, from tentative adolescent romances and early sexual experiences, through pregnancy and parenthood, to grandparenting and memorial services.
All of these series showcase vibrant ensembles, memorable collections of artfully drawn and cleverly cast characters. They’re also notable for displaying Edwards’ “old head, young head” philosophy, on-screen and behind the scenes. He’s long believed that pairing experienced writers and actors with gifted newcomers creates the ideal combination, and the rewards of that approach have been abundant.
The pairing of Edwards’ longtime collaborator, actor, writer and producer Claudia Karvan with novice screenwriter Kelsey Munro to create and develop Bump (2012-24) delivered one of the country’s best local productions (if you skip the regrettable telemovie tacked on at end). The series also gave us newcomers Nathalie Morris, Carlos Sanson Jr and Ioane Sa’ula in key roles, convincingly moving from high-school kids to adult parents negotiating family life and careers. They’re cast alongside proven players including Karvan, Angus Sampson and Anita Hegh, creating an ensemble alive with zesty energy.
But the practice reaches further back, reaping rewards on a host of series and revealing Edwards’ keen eye for emerging talent. Asher Keddie, Joel Edgerton, Samuel Johnson and Michael Dorman in Secret Life; Ashley Zukerman and Nicole Da Silva in Rush. Celia Pacquola displaying her range beyond comedy in Offspring and Beautiful Lie. Lincoln Younes perfectly cast as Ben Mendelsohn and Justine Clarke’s son in Tangle.
These then-rising stars have shared the screen with some of the most accomplished actors in the country, Edwards’ frequent flyers including Susie Porter, Catherine McClements, Dan Wyllie and Rodger Corser.
The credit roll behind the scenes presents a similar picture. Fledgling writers Judi McCrossin and Jacquelin Perske on Secret Life and Love My Way respectively; emerging producer Imogen Banks on Tangle and Offspring; rookie director Emma Freeman on Rush. And Dalliance features writer Christopher Lee, whose association with Edwards stretches back to Police Rescue. So as fresh talent is tapped, trusted colleagues continue their collaborations.
Erudite, energetic and not one to hold back on his opinions, Edwards is not the kind of producer who restricts his role to simply that of a money man: he’s intimately involved in the creation and development of his shows. And with more than 40 TV productions to his credit, he’s had an indelible impact on the local industry.
Now, his screen work comes through Roadshow Rough Diamond, the company he set up in 2016 with his son, Dan, co-creator of The F Ward. It’s an additional manifestation of the “old head, young head” strategy, as well, perhaps, as an indication of a generational passing-of-the-baton. Yet the indications are that Edwards Sr’s output, thoughtfully and compassionately exploring people struggling, stumbling, surviving and sometimes succeeding, is happily showing no signs of slowing down.
The F Ward is streaming on Stan now. Dalliance premieres on Paramount+ August 27.
