The television adaptation of Tim Winton’s award-winning novel Cloudstreet is due to start on Sky Atlantic in the UK on Saturday 7 January 2012. The six-part Australian period drama tells the story of two Australian families living together at 1 Cloud Street in Perth.
The Lamb family are led by Lester and Oriel Lamb, played, respectively, by Geoff Morrell and Kerry Fox. The Pickles family are headed by Sam and Dolly Pickles, played by Stephen Curry and Essie Davis.
The show was set in 1940s and 1950s Australia and has a fantasy element in that it features a talking pig. The two families have suffered their own catastrophes and are flung together to try to rebuild their lives.
Actors in Cloudstreet
New Zealand actress Kerry Fox’s role as Claire in Intimacy earned her the best actress Silver Berlin Bear award at the 2001 Berlin Film Festival and her role as Janet Frame in An Angel at My Table landed her two prizes, a New Zealand Film & TV Award and the best actress prize at the 1990 Valladolid International Film Festival. And she has been nominated for an Australian Film Institute Award for Cloudstreet. Other parts have included Hannah in Mr Wroe’s Virgins and Maggie in 40.
Geoff Morrell won an Australian Film Institute Award for playing Col Dunkley in Grass Roots. His first TV appearance was in 1985 as Mr Hopper in an episode of Theatre Night and his first recurring role was a decade later as Bates in Bordertown. Other roles have included Jack Landers in Fallen Angels, Lance Fisk in Murder Call, TR Holt in Farscape, Mark Jacobs in Blue Heelers, Tibor Havel in Bed of Roses, Tim Connelly in Packed to the Rafters, Joe Sandilands in Rake, Les in Small Time Gangster and Paul Armstrong in Winners & Losers.
Comedian and actor Stephen Curry won three awards – Astra, Australian Film Institute and Logie – for his role as Graham Kennedy in the 2007 TV movie The King. His first recurring TV role though was as Tim Hickley in 1992’s Late for School before his first major film role as Dale Kerrigan in The Castle. Other TV roles have included Trev in Frontline, Greg Bartlett in Neighbours, Stuart Mill in Sit Down, Shut Up, Eddie in Changi, Stu Woodcock in The Secret Life of Us and McBaney in :30 Seconds.
Essie Davis won an Australian Film Institute Award for playing Beth in After the Deluge and she has been nominated for another AFI Award for this role as Dolly Pickles. She was also on TV screens last year as Anouk in The Slap. Science fiction fans may recognise her as Maggie in The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions.
Other actors include Emma Booth as Rose Pickles, Lara Robinson as young Rose Pickles, Todd Lasance as Quick Lamb, Callan McAuliffe as young Quick, Hugo Johnstone-Burt as Fish Lamb, Tom Russell as young Fish, Kelton Pell as Bob Crab, Oliver Ackland as Toby Raven, Bruce Spence as the voice of the pig, Sean Keenan as Ted Pickles, Shannon Lively as Club Pickles, Reece Sardelic as young Chub, Andrew Lewis as Joel Pickles, Adam Sollis as Lon Lamb, Rohnan Tierney as young Lon, Sarah McKellar as Elaine Lamb, Annie Smith as young Elaine, Siobhan Dow-Hall as Hat Lamb, Freya Tingley as young Hat, Amanda Woodhams as Red Lamb and Grace Ray as young Red. The narrator is Ron Haddrick.
Team Behind Cloudstreet
The director was Matthew Saville and Cloudstreet was produced by Showtime Australia in partnership with Screentime. The producer was Greg Haddrick and he worked with novel writer Tim Winton, who also wrote the final draft of the series along with Ellen Fontana. The executive producers were Kim Vecera and Des Monaghan and Brenda Pam was also a producer.
The house – 1 Cloud Street – was built on a car park near where the novel was set along with other buildings in the show.
Cloudstreet, the Novel
Tim Winton’s original novel was published by Penguin in 1991 and won the Miles Franklin Award the following year. It is a popular book in English curricula in Australia. It has also been adapted as a five and a half hour long stage play.
Steve Rogerson - Steve Rogerson is a UK-based writer specialising in television, technology, sports and beer.
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