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Airdate: The Family Law

Benjamin Law & Marieke Hardy's new comedy about a Chinese-Australian family in the 1980s is already attracting some buzz.

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Pencil in Thursday January 14 for the premiere of SBS comedy The Family Law.

Based on the hit memoir of the same name, and written by Benjamin Law and Marieke Hardy, this is tipped to be a quirky gem and is already attracting some buzz.

The 6 part comedy about a Chinese-Australian family in the 1980s is described as “funny and messy, awkward, cringe-worthy, and overflowing with heart.”

Through the eyes of 14-year-old Benjamin, and set over the course of a long, hot, Queensland summer, the Law family navigate a series of sometimes disastrous events which become memorable milestones, and serve as a reminder that at the end of the day family can sometimes feel more like a sentence than a choice.

The Family Law introduces an exciting cast of talented newcomers, as a predominately Asian-Australian cast take to Australian TV screens.

Trystan Go (The King and I) stars as Benjamin Law; a slightly self-obsessed, clarinet-playing middle child striving for showbiz stardom while trying to keep his parents’ marriage from falling apart, usually with disastrous results.

For a long time Ben thought his mother Jenny, Fiona Choi (The Newsroom, Homeland), did not fit in because she was Chinese. Then he realised it’s just her. Jenny says exactly what’s on her mind and has a habit of frequently finding a way to bring the conversation around to the state of her “vee vee” during childbirth. And then there’s his dad, Danny, Anthony Brandon Wong (The Matrix, Nowhere Boys), who works slavishly at the family Chinese restaurant seven days a week, until Jenny kicks him out of the family home and he must find a way to win her back.

Adding another layer of cringe and complication to Benjamin’s teenage life are his collection of siblings. Shuang Hu stars as beautiful eldest sister Candy, with a big secret to reveal that will rock the family. George Zhao is Benjamin’s almost OCD neat brother and roommate, Andrew, who is in the midst of trying to navigate a girl-next-door crush. Karina Lee is sporty tomboy sister Tammy who is constantly at war with charming, cute, but mayhem-causing littlest sister Michelle, played by Vivian Wei.

This is a show about sabotaged expectations, growing pains, finding your place in the world, and the strange embarrassment we feel towards the people we’re supposed to love the most: our family.

The Family Law is developed and produced by Matchbox Pictures in association with Screen Queensland, Screen Australia and SBS.

Thursday 14 January, 8.30pm.

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