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Between Two Worlds

Icy relationships and a family clinging to hope are set to collide in Seven's new drama.

Keep your eye on the folk of Between Two Worlds…. very few of them stick to a straight and narrow path in Bevan Lee’s new drama on Seven.

It’s high stakes melodrama, with sex, power, deception and even some old-fashioned fantasy, all given the glossy Seven Studios touch.

The “two worlds” hint at life / death, upper / middle class and more….

Behold the Walford family, consisting of wealthy tycoon Phillip Walford (Phillip Quast), wife Cate (Hermoine Norris) and privileged son Bart (Tom Dalzell). Their world is swimming in swanky penthouses, luxury cars and designer offices. And infidelity.

They are contrasted by the Grey family, living in suburbia, headed by single mother Sophia (Sara Wiseman), footballer son Danny (Alex Cubis) and daughter Bella (Megan Smart).

Quite how these two worlds become linked is a bit of a spoiler…

In the opening chapter Andrew McFarlane plays a businessman who is being ruined by Phillip (one of his favourite hobbies), although the details are wrapped in mystery. But Phillip himself is on the edge when he suffers a heart attack during a clash with his wife, and it is clear that this is a marriage hanging by a thread.

Meanwhile Sophia’s life is about to be turned upside down when son Danny faces his own health crisis, on the eve of his wedding to Martina (Marny Kennedy). Coach David (Aaron Jeffery) is close by for moral support.

Elsewhere Bart connects with the voluptuous Georgia (Melanie Jarnson), daughter of McFarlane’s character, in a tryst that unravels to regular sessions of skin on skin action. Other key roles go to Blazey Best, Dalip Sondhi and Elijah Williams.

Sara Wiseman, well known for Lee’s previous A Place to Call Home, steps with ease into the moral compass of this duplicitous tale. Like the Dusseldorps and Gibneys before her, she is warm without being too earnest. I love that the magnificent talents of Phillip Quast are on display to a broad audience, in a role that has hints of Packer, et al. He is amply-matched by Hermoine Norris in a world that is deliberately ice-cold.

Director Kriv Stenders immerses us into the pendulum of Lee’s story with eye candy locations, moody tension and furtive secrets. As episodes unfold, the twists and revelations are the most bountiful since Revenge graced our screens, all making for intriguing escapism.  Seven is also particularly good at casting rising stars (Dalzell, Cubis, Smart and Jarnson) but thespian Blazey Best is a standout too.

Between Two Worlds may not reveal its full hand in the opening episode, but it is playing with a house of cards…

8:30pm Sunday on Seven.

9 Responses

  1. Really disagree with your review David. I don’t mind melodrama/heightened drama but this was horrible. I’m really surprised Channel 7 let this undercooked rubbish go to air.

  2. The was no mystery, for example Walford used a sex tape of Konig’s daughter to force into capitulation, and stop sleeping Konig sleeping with Mrs Walford, which drove him to suicide. Then Walford had a heart attack, Mrs Konig tried to let him die but her son wouldn’t. Then Walford was listed for the heart of a minor footballer from suburbia who was killed by a sucker-punch in a nightclub on his bucks night. And there’s a Romeo & Juliet angle, except they are both just using each other for their power-games too.

    The best bit was the director establishing a fresh view of Sydney as seen from the eyries of the rich and powerful. Which beats postcards of the Opera House and trendy inner-city townhouses and cafes that serve kale smoothies.

  3. These type of over exploited melodrama shows tend to look fresh and attractive in the beginning but by design will soon feature a few predictable storytelling tropes seen many times before.
    The predictable nature of love, lust, hate, jealousy and ambition are as old as sex itself.
    I guess that’s why Between Two Worlds will become popular.

  4. Thanks once more David for another thought-provoking review. Bevan Lee is a man of many geniuses, fluently establishing many of the most popular dramas in recent memory, and Kriv Stenders being able minded to direct content from many matching minds. Bring on Sunday Night.

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