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ABC commissions At Home with Julia sitcom

ABC1 has commissioned a comedy about the PM and her partner in The Lodge, At Home with Julia, described as "part rom-com, part guaranteed lawsuit."

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This will either be must-see TV or an embarrassment…..

ABC1 has commissioned a sitcom about the PM and her partner in The Lodge, At Home with Julia.

The show features Amanda Bishop as Julia Gillard, a role she previously performed in Seven’s sketch series Double Take and the very clever Phil Lloyd, from Review with Myles Barlow, as Tim Mathieson.

ABC1 has commissioned four half-hour episodes described as “part rom-com, part guaranteed lawsuit” to be executive produced by Rick Kalowski (Comedy Inc, Double Take).

According to an ABC Press Release, the show is “like any relationship. Who walks the dog? Who puts the bins out? Who sends the troops to Afghanistan?”

“They’re just like any other busy modern couple,” said Kalowski. “Trying to balance their relationship with critical tasks like introducing taxes no-one voted for.”

The team also promises to respect some boundaries. Sort of.

“As writers, we agreed the First Couple’s bedroom was off-limits,” said Bishop. “That’s why we put all the sex scenes in Julia’s office”.

Co-star Phil Lloyd said the show will also bust many myths about the real couple.

“A lot of people think Tim just hangs ‘round The Lodge all day doing nothing,” said “Not true. Sometimes he pops down the shops or goes for a bit of a drive.”

Director Erin White (Rush, Dugong) added, “There’s a Malaysian detention centre she keeps asking us to stay at, which is really nice.”

ABC Head of Comedy Debbie Lee said cheekily, “We’ve long been concerned about generous Government funding for the ABC. Hopefully At Home With Julia will put a stop to that.”

At Home With Julia is a Quail Television production for ABC1. ABC Executive Producer is Debbie Lee. Quail TV Executive Producers are Rick Kalowski and Greg Quail. The series is written by Amanda Bishop, Rick Kalowski and Phil Lloyd. Director is Erin White. Series Producer is Carol Hughes. Surveillance is by ASIO.

The show will air later this year.

41 Responses

  4. Finally, an Aussie sitcom. Well done to the ABC, I reckon money well spent. Like others have said hopefully this is a change, a change for the good.

  5. I think this’ll be funny for 5 minutes and then get old pretty quickly. Playing a charicature doesn’t leave much scope for comedy or drama.

  8. i would love to see a kevin rudd character and tony abbott poping in to see julia and bob brown, the list go’s on i like jase’s idea whacky neighbour

  10. Kev – Hopefully that won’t happen because the idea of the show is it’s about the prime minister in the lodge. Completely unbiased!!

  13. In order to keep political balance, will there be an “At Home With Tony”. If not, let’s see how long before the squeals of “left wing bias” start.

  15. SOunds like The West WIng meets Larry David’s Curb your enthusiasm! A mixture of fact and fiction and a big dollop of sketchy performing from Amanda Bishop who is a good impersonator as Julia, but can she carry it off for an entire limited series? I hope so, she is a talented actor, but depends on how rushed the concept and script are developed. Might be a bit of fun!

  16. Can’t wait.
    If this succeeds, prepare for loads of new Aussie sitcoms of which I will really want to see.
    Hopefully the networks will pick up on this and decide Aussie sitcoms are worthwhile.

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