Returning: Bed of Roses

ABC’s light drama series Bed of Roses is back with its second season next month.

The eight part series again features Kerry Armstrong as Louisa, Hanna Mangan-Lawrence as Holly and Julia Blake as Minna Franklin.

Also returning are Jay Laga’aia, Kaarin Fairfax, Caroline Gillmer, Dina Panozzo and Andrew S. Gilbert. Joining the cast are Phillip Quast and, in his last ever television role, Charles ‘Bud’ Tingwell. It will surely serve as a great reminder of his esteemed talent.

ABC is curently screening the first series on Saturday nights ahead of the show’s return.

Louisa (Kerry Armstrong) comes back from her overseas trip with Holly (Hanna Mangan-Lawrence), still on the ‘gold nugget’ high. She has a plan. Sort of. She is going to be an art photographer – and maybe, just maybe she will get together with Nick (Jay Laga’aia)? Holly bumps into Sean (Tim Phillipps) and he notices that she looks older, more grown up. He’s starting to see her a little differently.

Meanwhile, Louisa catches up on the goss with the girls; Marg (Caroline Gillmer) is taking a course to become a civil celebrant; Deb (Kaarin Fairfax), as always, has too many animals to save in not enough time; and Gemma’s (Dina Panozzo) 20-year-old son Jake is visiting soon.

Nick takes Louisa out for dinner to the pub, but it is not the romantic evening Louisa was hoping for. The conversation is awkward and Nick has a knack for saying just the wrong thing. He drives her home, and their first kiss is a complete disaster.

Excitement builds in the town over the imminent unveiling of the Big Nugget, devised by Gavin (Andrew S. Gilbert) to capitalise on growing ‘gold-tourism’ in the district but this is undercut when Vivien (Susie Dee) learns that the Rainbow Echo is going to shut down – the next issue will be its last due to financial issues.

The Big Nugget has been built by Marty and Rooster, and continuing in their tradition of shoddy workmanship, the event doesn’t run to plan. Whilst opening the Big Nugget Louisa comes to realise that she can save the Echo. Louisa seizes the opportunity to say she’ll buy the newspaper, but nobody notices Gavin quietly schmoozing the newspaper’s owner Bob Stinson.

It returns at 7:30pm Saturday February 13th on ABC1.