Sigrid Thornton and John Howard back at SeaChange's Pearl Bay, but no David Wenham

Sigrid Thornton and John Howard back at SeaChange's Pearl Bay, but no David Wenham
Title TattleDecember 8, 2020

Two legends of Australian television, Sigrid Thornton (above) and John Howard (below), are reprising their roles as Laura Gibson and Bob Jelly in the beloved 1998 drama series, SeaChange.  

It will be on Channel Nine, not the ABC like last time.

Some twenty years on, Laura (Thornton) returns to the supposed beachside paradise of Pearl Bay.

However, it seems that this time around the script has its as Pearl Bay needing Laura just as much as she needs it.

Its original creator and head writer, Deb Cox, returns as executive producer alongside Sigrid Thornton, Fiona Eager and David Mott. 

SeaChange will commence production in 2019. 

Sigrid Thornton and John Howard back at SeaChange's Pearl Bay, but no David Wenham

“I’m absolutely thrilled to be returning to Pearl Bay. Time has passed and the world has changed, so as we revisit this rich and strange place I trust we’ll all delight in the chance to explore how far we’ve come and how far we still have to go," Sigrid Thornton said.

"I can hardly wait,” she said.

Andy Ryan, Nine’s co-head of drama, said it was two decades ago that SeaChange changed the face of Australian drama.

"Pearl Bay is still a hotbed of romance, mateship and community spirit. With plenty of fresh faces the new challenges, SeaChange is perfect family entertainment.”

SeaChange is produced by ITV and Every Cloud Productions for Nine.

Initially the comedy/drama series was made by Steve Vizard and Andrew Knight's Artist Services as a co-production with the ABC.

The 13-part series featured Thornton as Laura Gibson, a corporate lawyer who, after two decades of juggling career, marriage and motherhood, reaches a turning point when her snaky businessman husband is jailed.

She picks up her life, packs up her belongings and takes her two children to the quiet seaside town of Pearl Bay, where she accepts a job as the local magistrate.

The ferry operator and cafe proprietor Bob Jelly was played by John Howard), the progress-minded mayor. William McInnes is also back.

"Just keen to be working with the old gang again," McInnes, who played Max Connors between episodes 16 to 39, tweeted.

The original cast of characters included Diver Dan, played by David Wenham who is not on the latest cast.

The 1988 production saw filming around Melbourne and at the Victorian coastal town of Barwon Heads.

The first use of the term, seachange was by Shakespeare in The Tempest; referring to a paradigm shift in thinking.

In the modern context the term Seachange was popularised after the 1998 show by demographer Bernard Salt.

"I then unashamedly commandeered the term in my first book The Big Shift, published in 2001, to describe the shift by the Australian people to the coast."
Treechange emerged in 2003. 

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