By Anthony Frajman
At last week’s Series Mania in Melbourne, prolific TV creators Wayne Hope and Robyn Butler were on hand to premiere new episodes of their comedy series Back In A Very Small Business, the follow-up to their original 6 episode comedy series Very Small Business, which aired on the ABC in 2008.
The showrunners, who are also behind Upper Middle Bogan and The Librarians, talked about what made them revive these characters, and why they wanted to bring the show back.
Joined by co-stars of the new series Kim Gyngell, Rick Donald, Robyn Nevin, Elena Mandalis and Roman Hadley-Lund, and moderated by producer Rick Kalowski, Hope and Butler said that part of the intrigue in bringing back Don Angel was inserting the character into today’s world of politics, and a Donald Trump reality.
“We kept having storylines as the years went by, and we kept thinking, ‘what’s Don in 2010, etc’; every period there seemed to be a version,” Wayne Hope, who plays Don Angel, said.
Don is a creepy, virtual con artist who is mates with a depressed journalist played by Kym Gyngell.
“We talk about the politics of the day through these two men,” Wayne Hope added.
“Particularly in the Trump era, apparently charlatans can be successful, and alive and well,” co-creator Robyn Butler added. “Credit to the great character Wayne has created, he does exist in any zeitgeist. And social media, the politics, it just seemed right, it was more interesting to us to find Don in success, rather than just the two shambolic individuals we had 10 years ago.”
The new episodes take on social media, and more controversial topics like immigration and political correctness; unafraid to address issues currently facing the country.
“It’s about things we hear in the news, what makes you laugh, it’s satire,” Butler said.
Back in Very Small Business will screen on the ABC later in 2018
