Playing house

As Rosehaven returns for a fourth season, its stars and creators Celia Pacquola and Luke McGregor reflect on how the show has evolved and tell Danielle McGrane about their inspiration.

T he staying power of a TV show often lies in the strength of its characters.

Plot is important, but what keeps audiences coming back for more is generally a connection to the people they see on screen. It’s a connection that Rosehaven has fostered for three seasons now, and will continue to do as it enters its fourth.

People keep coming back to this fictional town in Tasmania largely for the people who live there, and namely the two main protagonists, Emma and Daniel, played by comic actors Celia Pacquola and Luke McGregor.

But it’s getting harder and harder to know where Pacquola ends and Emma begins, and it’s equally hard to separate McGregor from Daniel.

“We are 98.5 per cent the same as our characters, and it’s getting more over time because we don’t need to set up their backstories anymore now that we’re at season four,” Pacquola said.

These best friends in real life have transferred some of what makes their friendship unique onto the small screen, realising sometimes that their own interactions are perfect fodder for comedy.

“They’re slight exaggerations of us but a lot of the conversations have been legitimate conversations that we’ve just had and gone ‘we’ll use that’,” Pacquola said.

“I think if we did 10 seasons it would just get to the point where Ceels and I would just tape ourselves in real life… it would just be quickest, quicker than writing it out again,” McGregor said.

While the characters bear similarities to their personas, the storyline is only somewhat inspired by their own lives.

Pacquola grew up in a small town, whereas McGregor brings the real estate knowledge as both his parents worked in the business.

So together they came up with this fictional small town, Rosehaven, which is a composite of several scenic places in Tasmania.

“We wanted it to be a small town anywhere but the main thing that all small towns have is that it’s really just one main street. So we wanted to have that vibe of the one main street where there’s only one of everything, and shops that have to combine so the idea of there being a sort of ‘everything’ shop that has all the takeaways and also sells VHS which no one has got a player for any more,” Pacquola said.

Luke McGregor: The best compliment we ever got was somebody who said they always watched when they were hungover which is great because it means that our show is comfort food.