This was published 12 years ago
Julia and Tim: the real story, if Tony doesn't interrupt
By Karl Quinn
THEY might need to be quick.
The ABC has commissioned a four-part ''narrative comedy'' series on the domestic lives of our first couple, but there's no guarantee they will still be in The Lodge by the time it's ready to be shown.
Julia Gillard and Tim Mathieson impersonators Amanda Bishop and Phil Lloyd.
At Home With Julia, billed by the ABC as ''part rom-com, part guaranteed lawsuit'', will start filming in Sydney tomorrow, with veteran Gillard impersonator Amanda Bishop and Phil Lloyd, star of the cult comedy series Review with Myles Barlow, as the First Bloke, aka Tim Mathieson.
It is due to screen later this year, but if the PM's public approval ratings don't pull a Lazarus act soon there's a chance the series could be old news even before it gets to air.
The real Julia Gillard in her Altona home with her famously empty fruitbowl in 2005.Credit: Ken Irwin
''It does put considerable pressure on us,'' said Rick Kalowski, co-writer and producer of the series. ''If she could somehow manage to hang around for the next couple of months, we'd be very grateful.''
The show is being shot in a ''very fancy home with 30 rooms'' in North Sydney, which is doubling as the prime ministerial residence. ''We have a couple of advantages on this show,'' said Kalowski, a former lawyer who has been writing comedy for TV since 2004. ''No one's ever been to The Lodge and no one knows what Tim Mathieson is like.''
As it happens Julia was in Sydney yesterday but Tim was at home, hosting a morning tea at The Lodge in honour of the Australian film Face to Face, which will have its Australian debut at the Melbourne International Film Festival on Friday. Mr Mathieson entertained actor Sigrid Thornton, director Michael Rymer and writer David Williamson, on whose play the film is based, proving that while the PM is away the First Bloke will play.
Amanda Bishop first showed off her uncanny Gillard impersonation at the Sydney Theatre Company in a one-off Wharf session - a free post-show performance - in early 2009.
Her next outing in the guise of the then-minister for education, workplace and social inclusion was on the Seven network's short-lived 2009 comedy show Double Take. Her rendition of Dolly Parton's hit song 9 to 5, reworked by Kalowski as 9 to 9 in reference to the long hours demanded by former PM Kevin Rudd, was a highlight of the series and has since enjoyed a decent afterlife on YouTube.
Seven expressed interest in spinning Bishop's Gillard impersonation off into short sketches but those talks never led to anything. However when Ms Gillard assumed the prime ministership, Kalowski said, ''interest in the act went from seven out of 10 to 12 out of 10''. An approval rating the real PM could only dream about.
Amanda Bishop, also a co-writer, has promised an intimate look at the first couple, but not an intrusive one. ''We agreed the first couple's bedroom was off-limits,'' she said in a press release. ''That's why we put all the sex scenes in Julia's office.''
Kalowski insisted that in political terms it would be ''an equal-opportunity offender - politicians of all stripes cop it between the eyes''.
The tone, however, is not meant to be mean. ''This is a political satire dressed up as a love story,'' he said.
But will it be the show that finally reveals the ''real Julia''?
''I can say with confidence,'' said Kalowski, ''that there'll be zero chance of that.''
The author is on Twitter: @karlkwin