When you think of Aussie TV success stories, Bluey instantly springs to mind. The kids show is a juggernaut, boasting millions of fans around the globe, all of whom can now claim to be “the full bottle” on Aussie culture thanks to a little cartoon about a fictional family of blue heeler dogs.
But it’s not the only homegrown show having an impact overseas: Patrick Brammall and Harriet Dyer’s great comedy, Colin From Accounts, which returns for its third and final season this week, has also charmed audiences en masse.
And it has some high-profile cheerleaders: everyone from David Tennant to Girls writer and star Lena Dunham and Fleabag’s Phoebe Waller-Bridge have declared themselves super fans after discovering the show via the platforms it airs on internationally.
With all the accolades, and all the hype, Brammall and Dyer — who are married in real life and both write and act in the series — have seen their stars ascend on the international stage.
Brammall will soon take the lead in an upcoming Apple TV Plus series, Last Seen, while Dyer was front and centre in the CBS workplace comedy DMV.
It meant the third season of their hit show was a little slow in coming to screens.
But no one was complaining.
“Pat and Harry had to go off and be global superstars for a while,” jokes WA-raised Genevieve Hegney, who stars as Chiara in the show, and who is long-time friends of the couple.
“But they both worked really hard to get it done.
“Because they have both had leads in other shows, they were trying to write while they were doing that, so we could get it going — and it was a lot.
“They also have two children now that they adopted their second child, who is gorgeous, so they are also having to be parents.
“So we were all a bit like, ‘Do you need any help? You right?’
“But none of us minded — we all just stood by and waited, and were like, ‘Yes, of course, whenever you are ready we will come back.’”
Hegney admits the cast hoped the show would return, but were still not 100 per cent, saying “we all crossed our fingers and hoped”.
“Because we were all like, ’Surely season two can’t be the end?’ That last moment of the show!”
The moment she’s speaking of is the scene that sees Brammall’s character Gordon spontaneously propose to his girlfriend, Ashley, played by Dyer.
Would she say yes?
“We were like, ‘Don’t let that be the end of it all!’” Hegney says.
“But we remained hopeful, even as they kept getting bigger and bigger opportunities — I mean, you never know if they are going to find the time — because we knew this is their passion project, and there is still so much more to be said.”
Thankfully, they got their way, and production for series three commenced earlier this year, though it was announced last week by the creator couple that this would be the show’s last outing.
Hegney, who relocated from Perth to the Eastern States in the late Nineties to attend NIDA, has plenty to keep herself occupied with going forward.
In fact, she’s busier than ever.
As well as being a drama coach on Home And Away, a role she has held for the better part of a decade, she also recently wrote and starred in a sold-out play at Sydney’s acclaimed Ensemble Theatre, alongside her long-time collaborative partner, fellow “Perthie”, Cath Moore.
“The two of us wrote Fly Girl, which is a play about a woman you should have heard about, but probably haven’t — a woman named Deborah Lawrie.
“She won the first equal opportunity discrimination case in the late Seventies, back when they didn’t let female pilots work for commercial airlines because, you know, we’re crazy! So crazy!
“Deb Lawrie fought against Reg Ansett to be able to fly . . . and it’s an incredible story.
“Cath and I decided to write a comedy about that terrible, dramatic and stressful time in Deb Lawrie’s life.”
Their play was a huge success, so much so that a production company came knocking and it’s in the process of being turned into a feature film.
“Easy Tiger, who make Colin From Accounts, have signed on,” says Hegney, who, when we spoke, had just had word the week prior that they’d received funding from Screen Australia to take the project forward.
“It’s worked out well, actually, because we went from playing hostesses (in the stage version) to (working on that) and then into Colin, which began filming in February.”
Hegney’s character, the loveable Chiara, has a bigger role this season. And while she’s keeping schtum about what’s ahead for her, she assures fans they won’t be disappointed.
“You will see a lot more of her,” Hegney promises.
“She’s still dealing with a lot of stuff.
“What is interesting is that they really do have their finger on the pulse of what it is to be a woman of this age; the searching.
“She is still trying to find where she is in the world, which I think happens in real life.”
Colin From Accounts premieres July 27 on Foxtel and Binge.
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