The Family Next Door review: Sally Hepworth novel makes for great TV

Here’s a twist nobody saw coming: an Australian mystery set in a tight-knit community where the stranger who’s new in town isn’t there to solve the mystery … because they are the mystery.

When Isabelle (Teresa Palmer) arrives in the sunny costal town of Osprey Point, and specifically the cul-de-sac that is Pleasant Court, she could be exactly who she says she is: a journalist in town looking to write a travel piece. But then this would be a very uneventful series.

Real estate agent Ange (Bella Heathcote) is suspicious right from the start, which is a handy way to get the ball rolling while also being an extremely accurate portrayal of a real estate agent. She’s not wrong, either: we’ve just seen Isabelle high-tail it out of a Sydney wake, hit the road and then pull over in the middle of nowhere to have a good scream into the void, so clearly something’s up.

Thing is, Ange is the kind of overly polished person who initiates sex with ‘we’ll have to be quick’ and then brings proceedings to a halt so she can fold her blouse. Isabelle might seem oddly determined to stay in firmly average Pleasant Court – no beachside upgrades for her – but as far as Ange knows, her latest client is just another client.

Watch The Family Next Door trailer.

So what we have is a somewhat uptight real estate agent with big ambitions who decides that the – admittedly a bit abrasive – new girl in town is up to no good. And as Isabelle settles into the community, Ange just can’t help herself. The ladies of the court sit outside in lawn chairs sipping wine, Isabelle stews inside, and everywhere tensions are brewing. Will the community survive whatever Isabelle has planned for them?

Family Next Door: Sally Hepworth

Based on a novel by Sally Hepworth and adapted by Sarah Scheller, this at times feels like the result of television drama being sliced into ever-more narrow genres. It’s a small town mystery where a hidden past reaches out to shatter the present, but it’s also a look at the personal problems of a group of upper-middle class women who seemingly have it all until you look beneath their polished surfaces.

If you’ve watched any television at all over the last decade, you’ll be very familiar with both genres.

Aside from mashing the two genres together, this is not breaking any new ground. But this is television we’re talking about, and specifically ABC TV: familiarity is in no way a bad thing. While the broad strokes are familiar ones (there’s even echoes of older hits like The Slap), it’s on the level of characters and performances that this kind of series rises or falls.

Fortunately, this neighbourhood is full of residents you’ll want to get to know.

The mystery here is a slow burn, with the first episode largely taken up by Isabelle giving various people lingering stares then going home to draw up giant maps or look at old photos on her phone (turns out she’s investigating a mystery herself after all).

Meanwhile Ange puts up a clearly fragile front filming promotional clips where she says she’s different from other real estate agents because she’s ‘fun’ (this is not true), and saying affirmations into the mirror while looking terrified at facing another day.

Those around them aren’t doing a whole lot better. Ange’s husband Lucas (Bob Morley) seems a casual guy but he’s definitely up to something (an affair?). Nigel (Daniel Henshall) is depressed, and his lawyer wife Fran (Ming-Zhu Hii) is struggling; Lulu (Jane Harber) and Holly (Maria Angelico) run a vegan café and can’t quite rein in their feisty daughter Elvis; Essie (Philippa Northeast) isn’t coping with her new baby, and husband Ben (Tane Williams-Accra) is struggling with work – which is why they’ve moved back into the court to live with her mother, Barbara (Catherine McClements)

Each episode focuses on a different resident, while the deeper mystery develops in the background. Things get more serious at times too; Ange (who is the lead in episode one) is the kind of stuck-up striver whose bubble comedies love to prick, but some of the others are more down-to-earth, and battling with problems that have a little more weight to them.

Family Next Door: an ensemble cast

That ensemble is the big strength here. Well, that and the way that Osprey Point feels like a real Australian coastal town, where whatever quaint charms once existed have been concreted over and all that’s left is just an unhealthy fixation on real estate and a bunch of locals who rarely seem to make it down to the beach. Glamourous it’s not.

And okay, it is still about a small costal community hiding a dark secret and the stranger in town with a connection to the past is leading an investigation that will shatter lives and so on. But just because all the pieces are familiar ones doesn’t mean the pattern remains the same; The Family Next Door is worth checking in on.

The Family Next Door premieres on the ABC 8pm on 10 August, with new episodes weekly and the entire series available on ABC iview.

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