CAN WE BREATHE YET?
It’s been a long six months for Offspring fans and finally it’s over. The first episode of Season 5 has aired – Nina has gone back to work and the Proudman gang are back in all their amazing glory, and we want to know what you thought.
But first, I want to share this with you.
This week I had a chat with Debra Oswald, who is the creator and head writer for Offspring, about the incredible show that is Offspring, what’s next for Nina and THAT adorable baby.
Here’s what Debra had to say:
LO: The question everyone wants to know – why did Patrick have to die?
DO: Well, we loved having Matt le Nevez on the show and we wanted to write story lines for his character for as long as we could be sure he would be here working in Australia. Once we knew we would have to consider the future scripts without Matt, we discussed what direction the story would take. We felt that there was no way he would leave Nina. If the Nina/Patrick relationship crumbled into some sort of miserable unhappy marriage, it wouldn’t be true to the spirit of the show and their relationship. And we didn’t feel it would be credible for him to abandon her and the baby.
We also felt that by the end of the fourth series, the show could accommodate something like a big death. And actually, we found in the process of writing series five that it was the best thing that could have happened in terms of giving us new territory to explore and making the whole show deeper.
A tragedy like Patrick’s death makes new demands on so many characters and we hoped that the audience would be interested to go on that journey, even if it’s painful in many ways. We found – and I hope viewers will find this too – that the fun and the sexiness and the joy in the show are even more powerful now. Everything matters more.
LO: Were you worried about people’s reaction? Did you take them seriously when they said they were resigning from the show?
DO: We were astonished by the strength of the reaction. I guess you don’t want to think people are going to stop watching the show. My hunch is that if people felt that strongly, then maybe they’re committed enough to our characters to continue watching the show. I hope they will. Our job is to honour people’s commitment to the characters, to treat the story with proper weight. That doesn’t mean that it has to be all sombre and serious and grim either.
I think there is a small band of people who feel we’ve made a terrible mistake and will turn their backs on the show, but so be it. I don’t think it will be many.
Top Comments
One of the best shows on TV with a great cast. Billie is so funny; Kat Stewart is a great actor. And Asher Keddie of course; love her quirkiness, and her fashion. Baby Zoe is gorgeous. Love the mum, brother, all of them. John Waters; is he still in it?
And of course Patrick - swoon. Glad he is making appearances so we don't miss him too much. Yeah I kinda agree abut Lachy Hulme - he is wasted here; great actorr and fabulous in the Packer-Murdoch story. I hope Offspring goes for a long time - there aren't too many shows like it on tv..
I loved it. Baby Zoe is just gorgeous. Love Billie. Nice use of Patrick's character.
Lovely start to the new season. Missed Patrick's sister. Hope she returns.