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More Wild Boys casting

Two more cast members join Seven's new bushranger drama, which will air later this year.

Channel Seven has today revealed more cast members for Wild Boys, it’s new Australian bushranger drama series set in the 1800s.

In addition to Daniel MacPherson (City Homicide) and Zoe Ventoura (Packed to the Rafters) it includes Michael Dorman (Suburban Mayhem, The Secret Life of Us, Blood Brothers) and David Field (City Homicide).

Jack, Dan, Conrad and Captain Gunpowder are the Wild Boys –

Jack wants enough gold to head west and buy land
Dan wants enough gold to head west and buy women
Captain Gunpowder wants to be feared and famous
Conrad wants to elope with the Mayor’s daughter Emilia

The Wild Boys are making plans for the future – but for now they have to make do with each other as they stage hold-ups keeping one step ahead of the traps, trackers, and other outlaws.

Seven’s Head of Programming and Production, Tim Worner said today: “It’s fresh, it’s different and everything about it is Australian. If you look across the television landscape, you’ll quickly conclude there aren’t many bushranger dramas. There is a richness to the way Seven dramas are made and Wild Boys will be no exception.”

The Southern Star Entertainment production will be filmed in Sydney with filming beginning next month under producers Julie McGauran and Sarah Smith (Rescue), with Seven’s Head of Drama, John Holmes.

In the Seven release it also notes, “Wild Boys joins Seven’s leading drama slate for 2011 – alongside Packed to the Rafters, Home and Away and the new drama Winners and Losers, which is launching soon.” While Seven’s commitment to Aussie drama is significant this is nevertheless bad news for fans of City Homicide -still yet to be formally axed by the network.

Further cast announcements for Wild Boys will be made soon.

21 Responses

  1. Stop the wowsing people! When was the last time a bushranging series was made? People dont care that some of the faces are familiar (all great actors in my book) or that a name is corny. They want a well written,acted,scripted and fun series where the characters have a good chemistry with each other and have audience appeal. It looks great from my end and should be alot of fun. Stop your whingeing and wait for the book to come out. You lot always reackon the book is better anyhow!

  2. hey david, why is nobody watching bluebloods? its a sensational new show very enjoyable and most important very belieavable, i cant believe the ratings only 400 odd thousand and yet 1 million plus watch that crap cooking show that cooks things that nobody will cook in their lifetimes.

  3. @Jerome,DC
    Melanie Vellagio’s role wasn’t that small – at least 3 or 4 weeks.
    Also Michaela Banas has a role (although not ongoing), Denise Scott & Blair McDonough are all hardly new faces.

  4. @Ted. There’s definitely a difference. Captain Moonlight sounds romantic and exotic. Captain Gunpowder sounds like a character from Spongebob Squarepants. Not a good look for an adult drama. It’s a dumb name, it sounds awkward and stupid. Just my two bob’s worth, but I think a name like Captain Musket, Mad Dog Mahoney or something of that ilk would sound much better.

  5. @ ducko – yes virginia gay is in it and kind of known but id hardly call the others household names after appearing in a few episodes of the 1st season of rafters. They’re relativley new faces in the cast including the semi-regular cast members as well which is usually not the case with casting these days.
    I think the rule of thumb is at least one cast member must have come from the 1st series of Underbelly!

  6. People, they have announced 4 cast members, what’s to say the rest of the cast, which i assume will be large because it is a serial, won’t be your NIDA graduates. There is nothing wrong with having some experience or familiar faces in a cast.

    @ducko, Melanie vellagios role in PTTR was very small.

  7. @DC,
    What do you mean fresh faces in Winners & Losers – one from All Saints, another from Rafters, etc.
    Ten does it too with Asher Keddie & co popping up everywhere.

  8. Agreed @ Allie – some fresh faces would give the show some credibility. Granted you do need at least one well known face to launch a show but think of shows like Rafters and Secret life of us. They basically all had new faces bar one and were big hits, something different to the norm hooked the audience into watching.
    That being said hats off to channel 7 for casting fresh faces in the leads for its new drama Winners & Losers!

  9. lol Captain Gunpowder. Is this a comedy?? I was interested in this. Great idea for a show, but a name like Captain Gunpowder, and then casting Daniel Macpherson, they’re making it hard to get excited about the series.

  10. Yeah it would be good to look further then the cast of City Homicide or other Seven shows. Having said that David Field is a quality actor but he merely balances out the crappy acting of Daniel MacPherson.

    And lol at Captain Gunpowder!

  11. Disappointing that they are using the same old, same old actors. Why not take a punt on some new NIDA graduates? Also, the name Captain Gunpowder – I’m sorry, but that has to go between now and when the show goes to air, a script revision is in order here. The name is so stupid, they may as well have called the character Captain Obvious. Come on, there are numerous names they could come up with, why go the cliche route? Many bushrangers were of Irish background, why not come up with an Irish name for the character? The original Wild Colonial Boy in the poem of the same name was called Jack Doolan, a fine Irish name!

  12. Gee Seven wouldn’t want you branching out in terms of casting. No wonder actors find it so hard to get work in Australia; every show that is produced just rehashes actors from other shows and signed to that particular network; how about some more original castings?

  13. captain gunpowder oh please! this show will probably not get past the first season without some really good creative writing and good acting. It’s fresh to this generation but to people who know their tv it’s a rehash. Hope it does well but I think 7 lacks the creativeness to actually take it to the hights of a deadwood.

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