House hunters
A new TV drama about a group of strangers who buy a house together could actually propose a solution to some real-life housing dilemmas. Five Bedrooms star Katie Robertson tells DANIELLE MCGRANE why the show’s unusual premise works.
Picture the scenario: five single guests are seated together at the same table at a friend’s wedding where they come up with a great idea, to buy a house together.
Maybe it’s not a great idea, or maybe it’s a genius way to get on the property ladder, either way it forms the perfect basis for a new TV drama.
“It’s one of those things where you’ve got five people who don’t have a plus one, where do you lump them? Probably all together at the very back of the room next to the toilet. Add a lot of alcohol and a crazy idea, and all of a sudden you’ve got five people deciding to buy a house together,” actor Katie Robertson said.
Robertson plays Ainsley, an upbeat optimist and the glue that keeps this group of strangers together.
“Ainsley has got such a big heart and that definitely instigates the whole situation
and she has a very close bond with all of the other housemates,” Robertson said.
She finds herself in this situation now where she’s living with housemates of all different ages and from all walks of life. If it wasn’t for this wedding, and the plan to buy the house, they would probably never have even met.
Offspring star Kat Stewart plays high-flying career woman Liz. She’s a lawyer who, from the outside, looks like she has her life in order. But all is not what it seems.
“You find out that things have just fallen apart for her at that later stage in her career, and all of a sudden she’s gone from riches to rags,” Robertson said.
Home and Away actor Stephen Peacocke plays Ben, a typical Aussie bloke with a heart of gold.
“Ben has been labouring for most of his life and just hasn’t really taken that next step into adulthood,” Robertson said.
“He’s still got a mattress on the floor and a milk crate for a bedside table. He hasn’t taken those next steps and I think he wants to get his life together more.”
Newcomer Roy Joseph plays a young surgeon called Harry.
“He’s very successful, but he’s grappling with his Indian mother because he hasn’t come out to her yet,” Robertson said.
Acclaimed actor Doris Younane plays the misanthropic Heather, who takes up the fifth bedroom in the house.
She’s been feeling trapped in her marriage and as a mother to two lazy sons, so she makes the bold decision to buy into the house. And then there’s Packed to
the Rafters star Hugh Sheridan who plays Ainsley’s boss, Lachlan, who she happens to have been in love with for most of her 20s.
“It’s very easy to see how Ainsley has fallen in love with him and been in love with him for so long because he’s gorgeous and sweet and warm, and when Lachlan is speaking and interacting with Ainsley you get that there’s something there, but not enough,” Robertson said.
“He is married and that is certainly a really tricky and intricate grey area that they’re both navigating. She’s his work wife, they work together every day and he spends more time with her than he does with his wife and when his marriage falls apart and he has issues, Ainsley is there. It’s one of those tricky situations where he gives her just enough, he leaves enough crumbs for her to believe that maybe one day she’ll get to eat the whole cake.”
Between the five people in the house, there’s enough going on in their lives to create a lot of drama and comedy.
On paper, it doesn’t seem like a bad way to get a foot on the property ladder and the actor certainly isn’t averse to the idea in real life.
“I think that people do what they need to do and it’s kind of a genius idea. I don’t own a house and when I look at it I don’t know conceivably how I could at the moment. It’s really daunting and I think people get by and they find smart ways of getting in and doing what they have to.”