‘I’M HARD TO SAY NO TO
REBECCA GIBNEY
Bringing any Australian TV series to life takes an incredible effort. For Rebecca Gibney, co-creator, executive producer and star of Wanted, the biggest challenge was being away from her family.
Gibney, 53, lives in Dunedin, New Zealand with her husband – and Wanted co-creator – Richard Bell and their teenage son, Zac. “Richard worked remotely on the show and I was in Adelaide by myself all the time,” Rebecca tells New Idea. “I was very busy, but it’s still very difficult being away from family.”
The actress was disappointed she missed some of 14-year-old Zac’s ‘milestones’ at school.
“He was doing very well at school at getting certificates and I couldn’t be there to see them being presented,” she says. “They’re just small things, but they’re the things that are hardest to deal with. He’s at that age where he just wants to stay home and study and I understand that.”
Zac is something of a budding star himself. He appeared in Seasons 1 of Wanted as Nicholas Bell’s character Ray Stanton’s son and just like his famous mother, Zac seems to have the acting bug. “He’s desperate to be an actor, which is scary in itself,” Rebecca says. “He’s actually quite good at it, so I can see him following in my footsteps for sure.”
While Gibney, who starred as Julie Rafter in Packed to the Rafters, once considered retirement, Wanted lit a creative spark. “I was talking to [husband] Richard the other day and he said that when he first met me 18 years ago I kept saying that I’d be retiring soon because there wouldn’t be any more roles for me,” she says. “Then I started realising, I can change that. I don’t have to sit back and wait for roles.”
In the latest season of Wanted, we pick up with Rebecca’s character Lola Buckley and her offsider, Chelsea Babbage (Geraldine Hakewill) in prison. It proves to be just as tough for the women there as it was when they were on the run.
Lola faces a life and death situation at the hands of another inmate. Without giving too much away, a fortunate set of circumstances sees Lola and Chelsea going into witness protection. And then they’re on the run all over again.
“The success of the show is its ability not to take itself too seriously,” Rebecca explains. “It’s quite hard to get the tone right on this show. It’s quintessentially Australian, and often in the most difficult of situations Australians manage to find the humour.
“Yes, we have to play for the drama, but we also have to find the lighter moments as well.”
Fortunately Rebecca has a more-than-willing partner in this regard in Geraldine, whose buttoned-up character Chelsea is the antithesis of the more battle-weary Lola. “The chemistry between myself and Geraldine has only grown from series to series,” Rebecca says. “We just have so much fun.”
Acclaimed actress Kate Box joins the show as a cop named Maxine, who is determined to bring Lola and Chelsea to justice. And in something of a coup, Rebecca managed to get The Dressmaker director Jocelyn Moorhouse on board to direct three episodes. “I asked her and she said, ‘No-one’s asked me to do television before. I’d love to try it,’” Rebecca says of Jocelyn. “I don’t have a problem with asking people to step outside their comfort zone. I’m pretty hard to say no to, I think.”
This season takes us to
the Flinders Ranges, Mclaren Vale, Riverland and Adelaide Hills, in South Australia. “It’s about trying to give the series a bit of a western feel,” Rebecca says.
The series has often featured some very nasty male characters – like crime boss Kel Morrison (Anthony Phelan). This time, however, there are a few dodgy women.“i think there is enough press out there at the moment about bad men,” Rebecca says. “So, I thought it would be good to show a few bad women – take the heat off the men. We’ve got some men in [the show] trying to do good things.”