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Wise council

When we left Arcadia Waters' mayor Col Dunkley at the end of the first series of Grass Roots, he had just executed a stunning back-flip in the council chambers. After a year of energetic politicking over the future of the controversial Cemetery Point site, a prime piece of coastal real estate, Col (Geoff Morell), who had been pushing for a showpiece development, came out resoundingly in favour of preserving it as a green space for public use. He made a rousing speech about the duty of the council to protect such unique places for future generations.

So there would be no mammoth shopping mall, no multi-storey towers and no big bucks for gimlet-eyed developer Morgan Bartok (John Gregg). There would be no immediate prospect of kick-backs for the council's cagey director of planning and building, George Hasnakov (Chris Haywood). And there would be no well-publicised triumph for the pro-development councillors led by blonde bitch-on-heels Biddy Marchant (played in the first series by Sophie Heathcote).

While appeasing the left-leaning councillors and making the conservationists happy, Col's 11th-hour turnaround also cemented his power base and demonstrated, yet again, what a wily political player this TAFE teacher can be. The manoeuvre was so deftly executed that Col might be tempted to pat himself on the back and offer his favourite phrase of praise: "Tremendous work, mate".

For series creator and writer, Geoffrey Atherden (Mother and Son, Eggshells), the back-flip illustrated an essential truth about Col and something equally fundamental about the political process. "Col does have principles," explains Atherden. "But he also realises that you can't push things in a direction that they're just not going to go. He thinks that this is a big, important issue. But, like a lot of politicians, he recognises that it is only one issue among a number of issues and he might have to give ground on this one, or even yield entirely on it, but there are other important issues to fight on that he hopes to win."

Col might have finally come down on the side of preserving public space, but his decision was seen to be pragmatic. He crunched the numbers and chose to cement his position as mayor while basking in the cheers from the assembled constituents.

Judging by some of the feedback Atherden received from the first, eight-part series, which originally screened in mid-2000, and has just completed an encore screening, his insights into the machinations of council operations are spot-on. People working in local government claimed they knew who particular characters were based on and who the moles feeding Atherden inside information must be (he says they were all wrong).

A resounding affirmation came from Mayor Larry Hand, the star of Rats in the Ranks, the award-winning 1996 documentary about the poisonous politics of the Leichhardt city council. "I hadn't met Larry Hand until after the first series had been to air," Atherden recalls. "He particularly loved that last episode, when Col does a dramatic U-turn, because he says that's absolutely true politically: that you can go in and fight for something that you really believe in, but when you realise that it's a choice between staying in power or not, you choose staying in power. When Col goes into that meeting, he doesn't know what he's going to do. It's politics on the run."

Col's a complicated character. A power player driven by ego and ambition, a skilled backroom operator and a great gabber, he's also a good bloke who wants to be seen as a visionary leader and a fair mayor. "What I find interesting about Col, and particularly the way that Geoff Morrell plays him, is that I forgive him for things that I might not forgive someone else for," says Atherden.

For Morrell, it's the depth that Atherden has afforded Col that is one of the keys to Grass Roots' richness. "Col's complex," says Morell appreciatively. "He is an idealist and he is in local government to try to make a difference, to try to make sure that there is a better community around him. He does have that at his heart. But the cleverness of Geoffrey's script is that it shows how idealism can get tainted by the political system: that in order to be in power, you have to compromise, and in compromising, you lose things. I think it's an accurate reflection of the way politics works but also, dramatically, it helps to never quite know where Col's coming from: he could do anything and that makes the show more interesting."

The second, 10-part series picks up a week after Col's Cemetery Point speech and Atherden describes it as "another year in the life of the Arcadia Waters Council". A wild storm causes a lot of damage and, both literally and metaphorically, Col faces some stormy weather. Early episodes reintroduce the familiar faces. Among the council staff, there's incompetent general manager Greg Dominelli (Rhys Muldoon), dedicated communications manager Helen Mansoufis (Sacha Horler), Liz Murray (Zoe Carides), who capably handles community and cultural service, and Col and Greg's secretary, the all-seeing but often-overlooked Janice Corniglio (Judi Farr).

The councillors again line up with Col's fractious allies on the left: Harry Bond (John Clayton), Fran Smith (Kerry Walker) and Irene Cheung (Theresa Wong). On the pro-business benches are Biddy (now played by Jodie Dry), who still has her eyes trained on the mayor's chair, Gordon Mahon (Michael Craig), Salwah Mandikis (Sandy Gore) and Victor Trujillo (Nick Papademetriou). Sitting between them is independent Karin Schumaker (Rhondda Findleton), for whom Col declared his love last season.

New in town is Ava Strick (Mary Coustas), an editor of local paper who's not content to run press-release puff pieces and is keen to sniff out some actual stories for her news pages. "New editor, new approach, new policy, new paper," she announces.

"Bloody nightmare," is Col's early assessment of her. "She's a post-modern, retro-feminist, right-wing bloody ratbag."

Episodes in the second series are built around set subjects: Art, Garbage, Prostitution, Crime, Dogs. Amid a controversy over the awarding of an art prize, a garbage strike, the exposure of a councillor fleeing an illegal brothel and a problem with Christmas lights, the future of Cemetery Point continues to be a contentious issue.

Atherden says that part of his intention was to show the workings of politics, but not to make Arcadia Waters look like Clown Hall: "I didn't want the series to be all about how corrupt, incompetent and hopeless local government is. I wanted to say that local government does do good things and can manage good processes, because it does."

However he notes that, in the second series, he and co-writer, Michael Brindley "probably get a bit more into the personal life of some of the characters, but really only to look at how the personal interacts with the political, how the kind of stresses that someone is under in their personal life affects what they do politically". On the home front, Col's estranged wife, Julie (Tara Morice), returns with hopes of repairing their relationship, while, later in the series, Biddy finds herself dealing with an unexpected family matter.

Amid the substantial array of characters, the writers have had the space to develop a few more in detail, like Greg "Leave it with me" Dominelli, who seizes the opportunity of storm-damaged council offices and necessary relocation to privatise the tearoom, while failing to organise the required telephones or chairs. And the often-agitated deputy mayor Harry Bond, who gets very vocal about the problem of dog poo but still finds it hard to complete a sentence without sputtering to a halt.

While lavishing praise on the whole cast, Atherden says that Greg and Harry "emerged in the first series as strong characters and Rhys and John played them really well. When we looked at what they had done, it was like an invitation to write more for them".

Geoff Morrell says that both seasons of Grass Roots share the aim of exposing the gulf between private and public behaviour: "You're seeing what's going on behind closed doors and what is given to the public, and that is the basic dynamic of the show." Morrell also notes a sense of confidence about the second series, saying he had no trouble slipping back into Col's mayoral robes. "Everyone was amazed that, after two years in limbo, and thinking that we possibly wouldn't do another series, everyone just clicked into place in about half an hour."

There are several explanations for the time delay between the first and second series. One account has the sequel trapped in the period of uncertainty during the Shier regime when a number of projects found themselves in limbo while the ABC haggled with producers and delayed decisions about whether or not to proceed.

According to Atherden, there were other considerations. It was always envisaged that the second series would follow on directly from a repeat screening of the first, so the ABC had to find a timeslot that was available for 18 weeks. As it's turned out, unspectacular ratings for the encore run have seen the second season shifted from the highly competitive Monday nights to Wednesday in the hope of attracting a larger audience.

In addition, the way that the second series was made affected its timing. "We didn't make it episode by episode," Atherden explains. " In order to meet the budget, we had to make it, as we did the first series, rationalised by location. So everything in the mayor's office is shot over a couple of days, for all the episodes, and everything at the beach is shot at one beach over a couple of days. That meant that all the episodes had to be complete and locked off before production could start.

"With most dramas, you get four of five episodes ready, and then you go into production, and you keep the episodes flowing. But this approach placed a longer interval between the start of writing and the start of production than there normally would be."

Atherden also notes that this cost-saving approach placed director Peter Andrikidis and his cast under increased pressure. They had to be right on the ball and on the mark, especially as the schedule required about 10 minutes of footage to be completed at the end of each day.

For Morrell (Changi, The Secret Life of Us, Looking for Alibrandi, Blue Murder), this shooting schedule made the production seem more like a 10-hour movie than a TV series. "It's probably the hardest thing I have ever done and ever will do," he says. "There's an average of 50 scenes per episode and I was in an average of 40 of those scenes. So I had to have 10 hours of Col in the story in my head before we started. But the flip side of that is that it's a fantastic challenge. I've done quite a bit of television over the years and this is a rarity. A once in a lifetime opportunity."

Atherden allows himself a quiet chuckle when he compares his production to another show that also examines the workings of government, the pressure of leadership, the hard-knuckle playing of politics and back-room deal-making: "I think our entire series cost about as much as one episode of West Wing. I think of West Wing as an aircraft carrier and Grass Roots as a canoe."

Back in the 'burbs, tactics are plotted and alliances forged over takeaway pizza and Chinese lunches. Coffee is sipped by the mayor and various colleagues in cafes on the main shopping strip. Biddy schemes, Col manoeuvres, Greg bumbles, Harry blusters and George seeks ways to line his pockets. It's business as usual in Arcadia Waters.

The second series of Grass Roots premieres on Wednesday March 19 at 9.30pm on the ABC.

WHO'S WHO IN ARCADIA WATERS

Col Dunkley (Geoff Morrell): Mayor of Arcadia Waters, TAFE teacher and wily political player.

Greg Dominelli (Rhys Muldoon): General manager of the council who has difficulty managing anything.

Biddy Marchant (Jodie Dry): Wealthy and conniving councillor who wants to be mayor.

Helen Mansoufis (Sacha Horler): Col's devoted, plain-talking manager of communications.

Karin Schumaker (Rhondda Findleton): Architect, mother and independent councillor.

George Hasnakov (Chris Haywood): Director of planning and building, whose idea of public service is to serve himself.

Liz Murray (Zoe Carides): In charge of community and cultural services and in constant conflict with Greg.

Harry Bond (John Clayton): Deputy mayor, council's oldest member and an old-style Labor apparatchik.

Janice Corniglio (Judi Farr): Col and Greg's secretary, a woman who knows a lot but isn't often listened to.

Dr Salawah Mandikis (Sandy Gore): Councillor on Biddy's team.

Gordon Mahon (Michael Craig): Businessman and conservative councillor on Biddy's team.

Victor Trujillo (Nick Papademetriou): Local estate agent and councillor on Biddy's team.

Fran Smith (Kerry Walker): Councillor and committed Green.

Irene Cheung (Theresa Wong): Councillor on Col's team.

Ava Strick (Mary Coustas): Tough-minded new editor of the local paper.

By Debi Enker
March 6 2003
The Age