Timing is everything

ABC’s newest drama The Cut takes to the airwaves tonight at a time when Australian drama continues a resurgence.

For actor Matt Passmore it’s has been an optimistic climate of late. He knows too well how difficult it can be to time things with audiences. In 2005 Last Man Standing struggled to build an audience on Seven, despite a good critical reception.

“It’s quite cyclical and moves in waves,” he said. “Last Man Standing was just at the wrong time for drama. Every job you do you never quite know how it will be taken by an audience. This isn’t theatre the audience isn’t immediate, you only get stats.”

Passmore is also appearing in Underbelly on Nine, which gives him two back to back, first-run dramas on the same night.

“I think at the moment it’s quite exciting because there is this greater confidence back in Australian drama and storytelling. We did go through the reality television phase and I’m sure it will come back.”

In The Cut he plays Andrew Telford, son of rogue sports manager ‘Wild Bill Telford’ (John Wood), who returns home from overseas to run the family business. What he finds are vain sports stars, dodgy deals and a father whose ethical choices are at odd with his own.

“He ran away from his father and into this European world, a broader world and into the UN. He ran away to a safe and sterile, meaningful existence and when he comes back he still sees the world of his father in sport as this sort of petty, ridiculous backwater Australia I guess. It’s a really interesting thing to play, getting dragged back kicking and screaming, but little does he know he’s actually finding part of his humanity again. Part of himself he has denied.

“And he comes back to an old flame, too,” he said. “His naive view of the world gets smashed up.”

In the drama-comedy by writer John Misto (The Day of the Roses, The Damnation of Harvey McHugh, Heroes’ Mountain) there are several slightly larger-than-life-characters, pepepred with absurdist humour. Unlike his worthy authoritarians in other series, Wood finally gets to play a flawed character on our television screens.

“I hope he doesn’t mind me saying it, but I think this character is closer to him than any of the other characters that he’s played,” laughs Passmore. “He has a wicked sense of humour and he’s very light-hearted and he has a very wry look on life, with a very experienced perspective. It’s great that he’s not playing the idealistic cop anymore.”

Others in the cast across the series will include Ben Oxenbould, Diarmid Heidenreich, Ian Roberts, Craig McLachlan, Simmone Jade Mackinnon, Jeremy Lindsay Taylor, Ria Vandervis, Eloise Oxer, and as his long-suffering mother, Julieanne Newbould who plays ‘Roz Telford.’

“The family is affiliated around the Falcons, which is an NRL team, but each episode there’s another situation or a little bit of mystery which Andrew finds himself dragged into and becomes a little bit of a super-sleuth,” says Passmore.

“It’s getting to the truth of the issue. The character of Andrew who left the whole world of Australia and sport and ran away to the world of black and white, and now we watch him wading his way through the quagmire of grey, really. Obviously the pull of the prodigal son with his father is always there.”

The Cut represents ABC’s first new drama series for 2009, notably in a new Monday night timeslot. There will be many looking to see how it performs with ABC audiences.

Passmore remains optimistic.

“There will always be a love of Australians telling Australian stories,” he said.

The Cut screens Mondays 9:35pm on ABC1.