Austin

Finished all eps now. IMO it peters out a bit in the second half once they’re in ‘London’ (you can tell a lot of the internals at least were still filmed in Canberra) but still enjoyable overall.

Episode 5

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Sunday 7 July 8.00pm

Austin organises a bespoke celebrity bus tour while Julian contemplates hiring someone to “scrub” his image. Ingrid decides to expand her career to become an “‘illust-author”, excluding Julian for the first time.

On arrival in London Austin (Michael Theo) is keen to cure jetlag by embarking on item one of his UK bucket list – to follow in the footsteps of his most admired British singer turned actor, star of screen and stage, his long term favourite Doctor Who companion and now writer, Billie Piper. Ingrid (Sally Phillips) has other plans for the day which is news to Julian (Ben Miller) and soon bids the boys farewell to pursue other creative opportunities.

Julian agrees to join Austin on the Billie bespoke tour, but ends up ditching the excursion mid-way for a hard to get once in a month meeting with an online scrubber – a specialist lawyer who can reduce his negative Nazi search results. But shortly after abandoning the tour Julian is hit with a wave of remorse, having made a promise to Austin’s mother to look after their son. In a frantic scramble he attempts to catch up with Austin, alerting Mel (Gia Carides) to the “lost Austin”. Will he find Austin and more importantly will Austin find Billie Piper?

I love this show. Although I don’t think the characters of Gia Carides and Roy Billing were interegrated well enough into the storyline in London - this is not a criticism of their acting.
Overall, maybe because I am similar age to the characters Julian, Ingrid and Mel I found this series thouroughly enjoyable.

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Episode 6

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Sunday 14 July 8.00pm

When Julian gets fired from his publisher & told his remaining books are to be pulped, Austin leads the charge to break into the warehouse to rescue whatever books are left.

When Julian (Ben Miller) is unceremoniously let go by his publishing agent of 25 years, he discovers 100,000 of their latest books are to be turned into pulp. When Austin (Michael Theo) is told this, he convinces Julian that the written word, and his artistic endeavours, must be saved at all cost. This leads them on a buddy heist to retrieve the Big Bear books from the warehouse.

Across town Ingrid (Sally Phillips) has an important session with her new “creative collaborator” AKA ghost writer, Tobias. But Tobias’s creative ideas have a very familiar narrative storyline to other well-known works of fiction.

Called mid-way by a somewhat puzzling message from Austin, Ingrid takes her leave and escapes to the book storage warehouse where she finally convinces Austin and Julian that they are family.

Episode 7

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Sunday 21 July 8.00pm

Ingrid discovers a former passion while Austin and Julian prepare for the first screening of the documentary, entitled: The Greatest Man I Never Knew - that will (hopefully) rebrand Julian to the world.

Austin (Michael Theo) and his new half-sister Florence (Ellie Mckay) meet for the first time in preparation for the rough cut screening of the documentary – The Greatest Man I Never Knew. Florence and Austin soon realise they have more things in common than the same father, and that Austin doesn’t do sarcasm.

The discovery by Florence of Ingrid’s (Sally Phillips) pre Big Bear nude paintings, titled the Phallum Series, sets Ingrid on a new course to exhibit her work. A gallery is organised and a date set for her solo exhibition, which leaves Julian (Ben Miller) feeling creatively abandoned.

But Ingrid’s exhibition proves to be the least of Julian’s worries when the “rough Cut” of “The Greatest Man I Never Knew”, reveals Julian’s self-serving intentions to Austin. A rogue video clip reveals Julian stating that Austin may not be his son at all, but if it helps resurrect his career what does it matter? Austin quickly exits the cinema. Will Austin forgive Julian for the ultimate betrayal?

Episode 8 - final

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Sunday 28 July 8.00pm

Julian is concerned when Austin turns his phone off & leaves to have some time on his own. In a gallery in outer London Ingrid prepares for an exhibition of her artwork. But the absence of Austin & Julian doesn’t bode well.

Reeling from the documentary screening, Austin (Michael Theo) has gone AWOL, having left his father a cryptic message as to his possible whereabouts. If Julian (Ben Miller) can decipher the message and locate where Austin is now staying, it will prove they are biological father and son.

Meanwhile Ingrid (Sally Phillips) and Florence (Ellie McKay) are preparing for the opening of her exhibition, while Austin sets about writing a book on how the English misuse English. It is during the research for his book that Austin meets Lucy, a writer of the journalistic kind, and phone numbers are exchanged.

But with Ingrid banning Julian from the exhibition unless he arrives with Austin, Julian turns unsuccessfully to twitter, then sets out on foot in search of Austin. But will he discover the whereabouts of Austin in time to make it to Ingrid’s viewing and importantly, will Julian get to know Austin’s DNA results?

Comedian Lloyd Langford had a cameo in Austin, playing a forklift truck driver in one of the episodes. His clip was shown on tonight’s episode of Have You Been Paying Attention?.

That was last week’s episode.

Austin will stream on CBC Gem in Canada from Friday, October 18.

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