Packed to the Rafters

I stumbled upon Packed to the Rafters quite by accident while searching through Amazon Prime for something a bit lighter than the murder mysteries and police/detective dramas I was currently watching. I must say, this show fid not disappoint! It's amusing without being a "comedy" show and has a lot of real life drama without being maudlin.

I think the first seasons which focused more on the kids (Rachel, Ben and Nathan) were better than the later ones that were more about the peripheral characters but I continued to watch until the end and the writers tied-up most of the storylines while still leaving room for a follow-up later. (I haven't watched that one yet).

I do wonder if houses in Australia only come with one bathroom, which seems completely unbelievable in this day & age! Even Carbo's much larger house next door with loads of bedrooms seemed to only have a single bathroom! The writers relied too much on that for their "comic relief and plot reveals" so it was a bit annoying but overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this series and will look for the cast members in other series made before & after this one.

Some people rate this show poorly but I think it's great. It revolves around a middle age couple who's mature kids all move back home through different circumstances and the relationship between all of them. It is pretty light but when there are so many dark serious shows and movies around it's nice to see a really nice show based on good old family values. The characters are all well played and after telling my girlfriend this looks like a load of rubbish for 2 weeks I watched an episode and am totally hooked. This is in it's second season and I hope it goes for a few more. Can't wait for the 2nd season to come out in NZ.

I only started to watch this because a friend told me it was a comedy, and I thought since I love British Comedy shows, an Aussie one might be ok. Well yes there is a lot of funny back and forth with everyone but this is more like a cross between a soap opera and something like Eight is Enough (if you can remember that show). After the first episode I was ready to call it, "Time of Death"? But I have this rule that if I start a new series show to watch, I always give it the first 3 full episodes before giving up. I figure that if it looked decent, I really needed to be sure if it sucked or not. Well I can tell you that I am on Season 3 now and always want to start the next episode right after the previous one. It started out being boring, and ended up catching and holding my interest. It is a great show and I promise if you give it a chance, and you like comedy and family drama, you're gonna love it.

Packed To The Rafters is a perfect example of Australia's fantastic television industry. The show is not fake, although it is fictional, it deals with characters, relationships and experiences that everyone can relate to.

Packed To The Rafters focuses on the lives of the Rafter family made up of father, Dave (Erik Thomson), mother (Rebecca Gibney), the eldest, Rachel (Jessica Marais), middle child, Ben (Hugh Sheridan) and youngest, Nathan (Angus McLaren). Each episode is narrated by a different family member giving each episode an exciting new take on each characters life. Almost always Packed To The Rafters is full of happiness, joy and laughter. However, darker issues are covered especially when dealing with Rachel and her troubled life and relationships.

Packed To The Rafters is a rare show where the viewer is transported into a different family, which is so like their own, dealing with everyday issues that are exciting and often extremely funny.

The best show on Australian television since the ABC's hit drama, SeaChange.

Heart warming, funny and relatable! The cast and writing is absolutely sensational. Although I've rewatched it multiple times, I still laugh and cry every time. I have a tonne of love and appreciation for this show and the people/actors that gave it life. You must watch it.