In politics and comedy, timing is everything.

Amanda Bishop has been noticing the body language between Julia Gillard and Barack Obama and she agrees with the PM.

“He’s a hot spunk and she clearly thinks so!” she quips.

“They’re clearly quite fond of each other and it’s lovely.

“Lucky it’s him and not Berlusconi!”

Bishop attracted national attention when she portrayed the Prime Minister on ABC1.

She first developed the character in the Sydney Theatre Company’s annual Wharf Revue, a show which she returns to from tonight. But while she’s played the role on stage and screen, it was the short-run sitcom At Home with Julia that had everybody talking.

There were bouquets, brickbats and outrage. But Bishop says all the responses were valid and that it was an honour and a privilege they were allowed to make the series.

“I think the reaction was perfectly warranted. I think people should be concerned about the Office of the Prime Minister. We expected that reaction. But I think once they saw the show they understood that it was more of a romantic comedy than a stab at a vulnerable Prime Minister –which certainly was never our intention.

“We were reacting to the fascinating energy that surrounded her once she decided to take over from Kevin Rudd.

“Even dyed-in-the-wool Labor voters were feeling quite schizophrenic about the support for her.”

Bishop was a co-writer of the concept with Producer Rick Kalowski and Phil Lloyd (who played Tim Mathieson).

“I find that comedy divides because it’s very subjective. I don’t think we were writing the show to be the be-all and end-all of comic appeal. It was an unusual hybrid of being a romantic-comedy mixed with the sitting Prime Minister who happens to be our first female and the first bloke. So there were so many new things in there that it was just ripe for our study,” she says.

“It was so unusual that she decided to take over mid-term and that she was our first female PM. So it was an exciting, rather than a negative thing.”

While some embraced its political humour, others were critical of the domestic elements of the show.

“I felt quite safe about doing that because it’s not based on any truth whatsoever,” says Bishop. “We’ve seen next to nothing about their private life and they’ve been very clever about keeping that to themselves. So that was the area we felt safest to extrapolate and fabricate and tell lies about. We just hope they were funny lies.”

Bishop frequently notes the series was about the romance between two people set against a political whirlwind.

“She needs him as much as he needs her. It’s actually about the strength of a relationship in such a high-status position. And that’s probably the single-liner that you could advertise the show on,” she says.

“It’s quite a simple story of love.”

Much of the series was about the hapless Tim Mathieson. Indeed, the day before our interview Mathieson walked home from Parliament House to the Lodge because of the boosted security surrounding the Obama visit. Sometimes life is funnier than Art.

There were also nods to classic sitcom, including a garden party scene full of moments of mistaken identity. Bishop acknowledges director Erin White in bringing the narrative to life, and adding to the show’s ‘girl power.’

“It’s actually a little bit of a feminist statement –not that that’s what I intended to do. But I do think female writers and performers should take courage from it. This is an exciting time for us,” she suggests.

“(In Erin) We really wanted someone who had a bold, artistic statement to place that over our funny little, romantic comedy. We tried to make something that hadn’t been made before, but not by reinventing the wheel.

“We did it hopefully by traditional sitcom from the 70s even, including with the title track, large headroom in the shot because she is high status.

“Little things like washing the dog, cooking labels, what’s in the fridge –we tried to make it rich in texture.”

But the show’s biggest controversy was the infamous ‘flag scene’ in which Julia and Tim were seen post-coital on the floor of the PM’s office, draped in the Australian flag. Again, she is reticent to judge reactions, even those by the media.

“All the journalists had to react personally and responsibly to what they thought it was going to be. But I do feel for the war veterans. We certainly didn’t mean to offend them. We knew it would be a sensitive issue but we weren’t doing anything untoward to humanity with the flag and I think that’s my bottom line. It’s not like we were being violent or harmful. That’s where I’m coming from as a writer.

“Doonas and pillow slips and sheets are made out of our Australian flag and it’s a picture Australians are really in love with. It was written as a moment of love between the two characters.”

The furore attracted so much attention, there were even claims ABC had dumped the show. But Bishop says only 4 of the original 6 episodes were ever commissioned for a brief opening in ABC’s schedule. By virtue of its subject, the future of the show is necessarily attached to that of its key subject.

“ABC were really happy with the show and they were wonderful to work with. So we’re open to discussions but they haven’t happened because I think it’s largely to do with the political landscape. Timing is everything.

“We’re tossing around other ideas as a writing team as you do, but we need to be prepared if the ABC want more of At Home with Julia.

“If we were to do a second series, and that’s not a conversation we’ve had with the ABC there are little things I’d like to tweak. But there’s nothing we regret because I think we managed to keep the fun going. From first to fourth episode I don’t think there was any episode like another. There was a lot of variety in that short, little show.”

A DVD of the series has now been released with Extras including bloopers, commentaries, cast and crew interviews, and unusually, a 40minute long improvised interview with ‘Jules and Tim’ on the couch.

Bishop still hasn’t met the woman in question but says a lot of journalists tried to make it happen.

But I’m grateful that she’s too busy running the country to meet me. That should be low down on the priorities for a Prime Minister.

“If it happens to happen then sure,” she says.

“Just as long as she’s got Barack Obama with her.”

At Home with Julia is released on DVD by Roadshow.