Prime Video has released the official trailer for Australian Original documentary Hot Potato: The Story of The Wiggles, which launches globally on 24 October.
Directed by Emmy-nominated director Sally Aitken (Playing With Sharks, David Stratton: A Cinematic Life), the nostalgia-inducing trailer depicts the meteoric rise of The Wiggles as they become the most successful children’s act of all time, along with the challenges they’ve faced over the past three decades.
The documentary follows the improbable story of The Wiggles, four friends who recorded a one-off album of children’s music in the early 90s and changed the global music industry forever.
Recognisable by their blue, red, yellow, and purple skivvies, Anthony Field, Murray Cook, Greg Page, and Jeff Fatt become an unlikely music phenomenon, equipped with early childhood teaching fundamentals and a dose of self-belief. Surmounting numerous rejections from industry producers, The Wiggles take their career into their own hands and become the most successful children’s act of all time.
In the early 2010s, when three of the original four Wiggles retire from the group, the reaction is seismic. Parents have to explain to their children why their favourite people in the world aren’t Wiggles any more, while in their place are three new members, including the first woman in the Australian group. The backlash is brutal.
The Wiggles were used to performing to packed stadiums and are now back to half-empty halls. They return to hard work, life on the road and making new music. Soon the new-look Wiggles are on a trajectory to become bigger than ever. But the original line-up is still together in the background, a friendship that endured beyond their time in the group. It is almost inevitable that the OG’s will perform together again, but when they do, it is with devastating results.
In 2020, Greg Page has a cardiac arrest on stage in front of hundreds of adult fans at a charity gig. The international outpouring of love is proof their generations of fans are still there, and the OG Wiggles go on to delight thousands of adult fans in arena shows across Australia and New Zealand. In 2021, The Wiggles grow again, meeting ‘woke’ detractors head on, to reflect the pluralistic world we live in.
Hot Potato: The Story of The Wiggles is written and directed by Emmy-nominated director Sally Aitken, and produced by Frog Productions, SAM Content and Dark Doris for Amazon Studios, with major production investment from Screen Australia in association with Screen NSW.
Post, digital and visual effects have been supported by Screen NSW. The film was developed with assistance of Screen Australia and Screen NSW. The producers are Aline Jacques, Daniel Story, Cass Avery, Aitken, Fraser Grut, Kate Chiodo, and Luke Field.
The world premiere of Hot Potato: The Story of The Wiggles will be at SXSW Sydney next month. It will be available for streaming on Prime Video from 24 October.
