At Home with Julia “won’t be disrespectful”

To kids she is known as Penelope K, the children’s character appearing on Pay TV’s CBeebies, but to older viewers Amanda Bishop will become Julia Gillard in the new ABC series, At Home with Julia.

“It’s exciting because it’s all happening at once. We weren’t allowed to talk about it for so long,” she told TV Tonight.

“But it’s a fun show and we’ve just started shooting. I feel confident because the Penelope K shoot was so intense. We shot 25 episodes in 20 shooting days -so nothing compares.”

Bishop, who previously performed her Gillard character on Seven’s sketch show Double Take, denies early criticism that the show will be disrespectful.

“We’re bound to get that kind of reaction. But the show is really fun. It’s a satire dressed-up as a love story,” she said.

The 4-episode series is expected to have a swift turnaround in order to keep the content current.

Last week Penelope K, By the Way won the Most Outstanding Children’s series at the ASTRA Awards.

“I’m equally proud of every project I do.”