Squinters
From Wednesday 7 February at 9.00pm
The six-part comedy series Squinters celebrates the great Aussie ritual that is the everyday work commute. We share the comical trials and tribulations of five carloads of travellers in their peak hour transits to and from work, learning about their days in the process.
During morning peak hour and within the intimate car setting, workers of consumer goods dispatch centre ‘Kosciusko’, reflect on their lives, share their goals and ambitions and plan their day. Then, after the working day, we join our workers again as they discuss the highs and lows of the past eight hours as well as their hopes and dreams for the future.
Delivery driver Paul (Tim Minchin) starts an eco-carpool by slipping a sole promotional flyer under the office door of Romi (Andrea Demetriades) from Marketing. It’s clear he’s got a crush on her and she thinks he’s kind of cute – and they soon share a cheeky banter, bonding over teasing each other and a shared curiosity of social mores.
Middle management material and recalcitrant dog owner, Lukas (Sam Simmons), shares news of his possible promotion with his opinionated Mum, Audrey (Jacki Weaver), in the hope that it will impress her. In return, she critiques his relationship with his never-seen partner Eric and Lukas’ ‘parenting’ of his beloved dog Barney. When the promotion turns into a redundancy, Lukas is left interrogating the ashes of his career with the by-phone-only help of the company’s careers counselor, Davis (Nyasha Hatendi).
Bridget (Mandy McElhinney) is a time-poor single, professional mum, juggling family, love and bills. On her commute she takes her teenage daughter, Mia (Jenna Owen) to school, and her 2yo daughter, Chloe, to childcare. Mia focusses her attention on her music aspirations and boyfriend VJ (John Luc aka ‘MyChonny’) whilst Bridget tries everything she can to keep Mia off the path Bridget herself travelled to end up where she has.
When forklift driver Macca (Justin Rosniak) loses his license drink-driving, old schoolmate and IT work colleague Ned (Steen Raskopoulos) volunteers to drive him, despite being the target of much of Macca’s high school bullying. They immediately slip into the roles they had at school – Macca the alpha and Ned the beta. As Ned interrogates Macca’s life and Macca reflects on his own behavior, particularly Macca’s on again, off again marriage, the men find equilibrium. But how long will it last?
Simoni (Susie Youssef) arranges a job interview at Kosciusko for best mate Talia (Rose Matafeo) to help raise funds for their yoga-bar venture ‘Cabernet Shavasana’. On the way, Simoni runs interview practice with a reluctant Talia, fearing she will be unprepared and embarrass herself. But Talia exceeds expectations and unexpectedly lands a supervisor job, becoming Simoni’s boss. Things won’t be the same…
Rumours of a corporate takeover by Amazon or another U.S. giant spread through the Kosciusko workforce. Who will be affected? How? But life for our commuters must go on as careers are reshaped, friendships are tested and new relationships are born.