New Aussie drama Dalliance is The Secret Life of Us for the over-fifties

Australian television has had more than its fair share of dramas revolving around a group of friends. The Secret Life of Us, Love My Way, Tangle, a dozen others. Dalliance is yet another example of the tried and true formula – right down to making sure a lot of the conversations take place against a scenic harbourside backdrop – but the twist is everyone here is old.

Well, not old old. But where the classics of the genre were all about people in their twenties and thirties trying to figure out the big questions (relationships, work, children), this is about a friendship group pushing sixty. Some of them think they’ve got it worked out, others seem as lost as ever. As for financial security, that’ll always be the dream.

A meet-cute on the harbour

Dani (Heather Mitchell) is in charge of catering on a Sydney Harbour ferry heading out to give the passengers an up-close view of a yacht race when Billy (Hugo Weaving) barrels into her life. He’s trying to hide from his enraged and cravat-wearing younger brother Gary (David Wenham); Dani gives in and stashes him under the counter.

It’s the kind of quirky intro that leaves you wondering just how dodgy Billy might be. But over the ferry trip he turns out to be the kind of man who expresses gratitude, pays his debts, provides good conversation, and doesn’t sneak around. Which is to say, when a shared bet pays off big time he tries to give Dani the winnings, and when she refuses he tries to use them to pay for a lift home to his wife of almost 40 years, Rose (Georgie Parker).

A night of quality conversation leads to Dani making a slightly unusual request. She has a fancy networking dinner coming up: is there any chance she could borrow Billy for the night as her plus one? He’s charming, outgoing and as a semi-retired TV cameraman, he’s got loads of entertaining stories. He’ll make for a perfect handbag. How can Rose say no?

From there Dani finds herself drawn into the wider friendship group, who aren’t exactly short of drama themselves.

Meeting the crew

Luke (Wayne Blair) is feeling lost, which isn’t great news for his far more together wife Adele (Carolyn Bock). Sarah (Catherine McClements) is single and living in a caravan. Manaaki (Kirk Torrence) is trying to make up for being a dud dad by being a decent granddad. At least Rex (Russell Dykstra) and Dylan (Ryan Panizza) seem like a loving couple, despite a significant age gap.

Meanwhile, across the course of the six episodes we gradually learn more and more about exactly what happened on Dani and Billy’s big night together, which turns out to be a lot more eventful than it first seems.

Father-son producers John and Dan Edwards are best known these days for The F Ward and Bump, but John’s extensive career reaches back to series such as The Secret Life of Us, Love My Way and Tangle, all of which revolved around extended friendship groups grappling with life’s challenges alongside the occasional dark secret or shock twist. So if you grew up with those series, this often feels like something of a continuation – and deliberately so.

The slightly separate Billy-Dani-Gary plotline has the advantage of some big guns acting-wise, while Rose ends up being the character around whom much of the series pivots. Weaving is having a lot of fun as the life of the party, while Mitchell’s much more reserved performance is no less compelling. Likewise, Parker’s Rose comes across as consistently decent and relatable, while Wenham gets to be a bit of a dick as Gary – but does he have a good reason?

Watch the trailer

An all-star ensemble

Honestly though, everyone here gets their moments to shine. As does the Sydney backdrop, which (as you’d expect in an Edwards production) makes everyone’s troubles seem just that little bit more glamourous.

Having a cast that’s mostly of a certain age is the big point of difference with Dalliance, but the storylines largely run against that. These people might be nearing the traditional retirement age, but they’re very much the kind of characters we’ve seen in previous Edwards productions – unsure of themselves, questioning their choices, trying to figure out where they’re heading.

All of which remains firmly relatable and solidly entertaining. Edwards has always been good at selling back to his audience a slightly glamourised version of their lives, and this manages to make late middle age look like an exciting and dramatic time of life.

Even if you’re not in the target audience, this is the kind of witty, thoughtful and often funny drama Edwards (and now also his son) does well. And if you have grown up and older with his dramas? Finally you get the chance to see your generation complain about aches and pains and talk about the good old days.

Oh, and gamble, sleep around and do coke in a back room.

All six episodes of Dalliance are available to stream on Paramount+ from 27 August.

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