Sibling rivalry
In the new TV show Sisters, Julia Bechly, played by Maria Angelico, discovers she isn’t an only child but may have hundreds of siblings after her father’s death-bed confession. The actress talks to DANIELLE McGRANE about why this show is more realistic t
Maria Angelico is going to have some explaining to do once Sisters airs.
The Melbourne-based actress has a lead role in the new show which is set to potentially fill the void left by Offspring. It is, after all, produced by one of Offspring’s co-creators Imogen Banks.
The premise of the series is also extremely compelling. Maria plays a woman who finds out she might have more than 100 siblings when she had believed she was an only child.
So, before the show launches, Angelico should really warn her nearest and dearest.
“I haven’t really talked about it much with anyone. I haven’t even told my neighbour that I’m an actor,” she said.
It’s also highly likely that her neighbour won’t just be surprised but hooked in by the storyline.
Maria plays Julia Bechly, whose father, IVF pioneer Julius Bechly (Barry Otto), confesses to her on his death bed that he used his sperm throughout his career as a fertility specialist and he could potentially be the father of hundreds of children.
“It’s a really cool premise, it opens up so many opportunities for so many differ- ent characters to be brought together,” she said.
What Angelico also found out was that this seemingly unlikely premise was forged in reality.
“When we were doing the pilot last year I discovered there’s been a case in nearly every continent, it’s not that uncommon,” she said.
“I think in the earlier stages, I guess trial stages before IVF was something people really knew about, it was hard for the doctors to get genetic material. So it’s kind of one of those things where it kind of makes sense but it’s also really icky and shocking.”
Being grounded in reality gives the show a different feel to some of the other homegrown shows on TV.
“It feels quite real and a bit grittier than some shows that I’ve seen on Australian network TV. It feels a little less aspirational. Sometimes you watch those shows where everybody lives in a beautiful house and their hair is always very good, this isn’t one of those shows,” she said.
“It’s fun, but then it can be quite dark and gritty. It’s not super heavy, it’s just less glamourised.”
By nature, her character Julia is quite open and welcomes all these new siblings who she discovers into her life. While there are many brothers, she learns she only has two sisters: children’s television star Roxy Karibas (Lucy Durack) and lawyer Edie Flanagan (Antonia Prebble).
The relationship between the three women forms the core of the show.
“It is about three very different women brought together by a terrible circumstance,” she said.
“Julia wants to make the best of it and take responsibility for her father’s terrible unspeakable actions and bring everyone together, and through it she meets Roxy and Edie, the only other sisters. It isn’t all fun and love but they do want to have a relationship, they do want to get on and they have hope that they all want to be better people.”
Fact and fiction have merged as the relationship between the three lead actresses has spilled over into real life.
“We get teased on set by the crew for how much we talk in between takes. We just get along so well,” she said. “We don’t have every day on set together so the days when we have scenes together is like this extra bonus, you feel such love and support. I feel like we’re all inspiring each other to be our best.” Sisters Wednesday, 8.40pm on Ten and WIN