SeaChange

SeaChange is a rare and wonderful show that takes the viewer into the fictional, yet oddly familiar, town of Pearl Bay, where once you are there you never want to leave. The characters in the show are very real and are not unlike people you would meet in your everyday life. This is due to the fantastic casting of each of the characters, especially the leads, (Sigrid Thornton, David Wenham and William McInnes). With each new problem, and it always is a problem with Laura, Thornton plays the part wonderfully with alternating waves of pure joy and crippling sadness. McInnes also does a fabulous job as Max. Although I doubted whether McInnes and the character of Max would be anywhere near as good as Diver Dan, I am happy to say however, that my doubts were not at all an issue. He was fantastic! McInnes was a delight to watch whilst acting Max's character with his skeptic, hard exterior to his very soft and caring interior. Diver Dan however, played by Wenham, was a perfect character who was terribly hard not to fall in love with. From his great humour to raw emotional scenes Wenham is extremely compelling as the laid-back Diver Dan.

The brilliance of SeaChange however is owed to the excellent and flawless writing, principally by Andrew Knight and Deb Cox. With memorable lines in every episode to the exciting and hilarious structure of each episode, SeaChange makes for incredibly enjoyable viewing. The Kevin and Trevor scenes are often so ridiculous they are funny. This is especially the case in the Season 3 episode with Kevin's anecdote about his fear of ping-pong balls. It sent me into fits of uncontrollable laughter. The magic of the writing in SeaChange is also evident in many episodes when the character story relates to the court case Laura is currently judging.

SeaChange has a mysterious quality that makes the viewer feel as if they are part of the abstract town and that also it matters to them what is going on with Laura's relationships with Dan and Max.

The best TV-show ever made in Australia and it is highly likely nothing will ever rival this absolute golden series.

I've watched three episodes of the new Sea Change and I'm enjoying it in its own context, and not relating it back twenty years and attempting to see a seamless connection. The connection is there but time has interrupted the flow. Some original characters and there but older, while some have gone and others have grown up to be played by new actors. It's wonderful to see Sigrid Thornton, John Howard, Kerri Armstrong and Kevin Harrington still bumbling around Pearl Bay, and the addition of the talented Brooke Satchwell, Kate Lister, and a number of others, has injected new blood into the narrative and it has worked very well. I can't see Season 4 sweeping all the television awards handed out every year, but for me it hits the spot and the absence of serial killers, drug addicts and chronic depression are omissions from the plot I'm enjoying while I can.

I'll admit it. I got hooked watching this last year. Yes I became a lounge lizard, while staying with my dad, over the course of a couple of weeks, watching this daily. I loved the show and it's settings, I so much wanted to be part of the atmosphere of this sleepy town, Pearl Bay, aka: Barwon Heads. The stories are well thought out and interesting. I had watched Sea Change a few Friday nights a year before last, and got into the show, but really got to appreciate it last year. Every actor is so good, no performance lacks. I did miss David's Wenham's departure, his smart alecky talking character was one of my favourites. I know if you started watching this show, it would grow on you. The father and son talk at the end of each show was an ingenious touch, but it's also funny, then leaving you with a small afterthought to ponder over for a few tics. You might also notice a younger Wolf Creek face, pre-backpacker victim. Sigrid Thornton as the town lawyer is very strong too. Like I said, every actor's wonderful rocks. I love the theme song too. It's a winner, like the show.

Set in a small coast side town of Eastern Australia, Seachange follows Laura Gibson and her strange family... well, they seem that way, but they are more truthful than a strange interpretation of the Aussie family... Performances to look for are Sigrid Thorton and David Wehnam in the lead roles and in the supporting cast, I loved the ditsy, but kind hearted couple of Angus (Tom Long) and Karen (Kate Atkinson) and their lines such as "We're on a break from our break." Phrani was great too. "You are like the great god ganisha, except you don't have the head of an elephant and the body of fat little indian man" Hilarious stuff!!

Not a lot to add to the other comments. This series which, lamentably, is little known outside Australia, was compulsive viewing. Sunday nights were never the same again after the end! Yes it was right to go out on a high rather than peter out a la Northern Exposure.

Escapist and full of strange characters, you can only wish you lived somewhere the people were so strange (in a good way!). The series is as good on re-viewing and I have acquired all the DVDs. The series has little for action junkies. You come to know and like the characters - no real baddies, just a few scallywags, nothing major ever happens, but that does not give you the sense of the twinkle, the merriment of the little things that happen in everyday life, and the magic of living in Pearl Bay. I wish I did.