True blue Dan Wyllie

If Dan Wyllie is grateful to SeaChange for anything, it isn’t just to be working… but to be working in a quintessentially Aussie drama.

In the nearly three decades he has been performing, the seasoned actor has seen many shifts in drama production.

But the quirky, coastal drama is a big tick for local production.

“We’ve kind of been usurped by streaming platforms and foreign networks owning production companies, ostensibly, trying to create American content and shooting cheaply here. Which is not great.

“So something like this is, luckily for me and us, is uniquely Australian.

“The rise of smaller-format, miniseries TV lends itself to interesting, non-serialised projects with shows like Secret City, Safe Harbour or a 4 parter like The Ropes on SBS. It’s such an interesting state of flux. But it always seems to be.

“…all these American networks who now own production companies.”

“I’d like to see us not being consumed by all these American networks who now own production companies. They get bought out and then you have American producers having a say in casting, production, scripts.”

SeaChange is a co-production between ITV Studios Australia, headed by David Mott, and Every Cloud Productions with Fiona Eagger and original SeaChange co-creator Deb Cox.

“This has a firm hand on the reins by Every Cloud, who really want to stick to the original tone and style. Fingers crossed we get it right.”

Wyllie, who was cast as Ben Russo at the request of Sigrid Thornton, is following in the footsteps of David Wenham and William McInnes, “both illustrious boots to fill.” Ben’s relationship with Laura Gibson (Thornton) gets off to the worst possible start, but he remembers such misfortune is part of the show’s DNA.

“He’s a craft brewer in Pearl Bay who is trying to have his own SeaChange, picking up the pieces of his life to rebuild his marriage. He’s trying to find his artistic mojo, and obviously that all goes south,” he explains.

“SeaChange is firmly etched in my memory to have a show that was so well-written yet uniquely Australian and inherently theatrical. It seems to be able to encompass everything from beautiful, straight drama to heightened clowning and comedy. It almost has a magical realism to it.

“It’s such a spiritual show in the Australian canon.”

“It’s such a spiritual show in the Australian canon. Andrew Knight & Deb Cox created this wonderful world and with the incredible Sigrid Thornton at the helm it certainly burns bright for me. I remember seeing it in the ‘90s and really liked it.

“For an angry young man, at that time, this was more of a female-skewed, romantic show. But I genuinely watched it and liked it.”

“It doesn’t get sucked into an Americana version of ‘quirky.’”

With John Howard, Kerry Armstrong, Kevin Harrington, Brooke Satchwell, Darren McMullen and Katrina Milosevic, the drama has relocated Pearl Bay from Barwon Heads in Victoria to Brunswick Heads in NSW.

But Wyllie assures it retains both dramatic and comedic elements, together with an innate quirkiness for which it became famous.

“It doesn’t get sucked into an Americana version of ‘quirky.’ The English do it very well too, but it’s great to be part of something that is uniquely Australian,” he continues.

“The beauty of this show is that it does it all. Offspring does that as well, but this was a precursor to that.

“I’m watching Sigrid do incredible comedy turns and the next scene can be quite a dramatic mother-daughter moment.

“This is a dream job in an incredible location. To be up in Byron, Northern Rivers in winter is kind of a strange, other-wordly dream.

“To work with the iconic Sigrid Thornton and such a great team of writers, a lot of the original cast -who are just magnificent- is an absolute honour and privilege.”

SeaChange returns 8:40pm Tuesday on Nine.