A PLACE TO CALL HOME
Arianwen Parkes-lockwood introduces her baby girl
Looking back at 2017’s Season 5 of A Place to Call Home, something strange becomes apparent about Arianwen ParkesLockwood’s character Olivia—she’s often hiding behind unusually large coats. “I was pregnant last season with my daughter, Lucia. You can tell if you look closely!” she says.
For the 30-year-old actress, who is married to Australian voice-over artist and writer Marcello Fabrizi, the timing of the birth of her first child couldn’t have been better, the baby’s arrival packed neatly into the break between filming for Season 5 and the sixth, and final, season of A Place to Call Home. When production resumed earlier this year, Parkes-lockwood was able to bring little Lucia along to the set—much to everyone’s delight. “It’s a bit of a juggle, and a bit of a challenge, but production has been really great,” she explains. “Xavier [Druery], who plays Georgie, he is the sweetest boy. He is in love with my real-life daughter. She is five-and-a-half months, and he came to set the other day with a present for her that he had picked out himself, this little blanket with swans on it, which was just the sweetest thing.”
Between takes, Parkes-lockwood was able to dote on little Lucia, taking time out for feeds and cuddles—then it was back to 1950s Australia, corsets and all. “The other day [during filming], I had to jump in the watering hole again—and [Lucia] watched me do it,” says Parkes-lockwood. “I’m not sure what she made of it, but there she was, standing just behind camera. It’s been amazing—and wonderful.”
The cast and crew of the period drama formed a strong bond in the six years they’ve been filming in and around Sydney, and many of them have made firm friends between takes. David Berry, who plays Olivia’s onetime husband, James, says he’s especially enjoyed his time with her on the show and, though he’s since gone on to find international fame thanks to a starring role on the hugely popular UK drama Outlander, he knew he wanted to return to say farewell. “I really wanted to be in this, knowing it was the last season,” he explains. “The show is really important to me. It’s the first thing I did out of drama school and there are people here who are really like family to me now. We have formed really true, genuine bonds. So to see the character out in the way [creator] Bevan [Lee] intended was really important.”
One of those people is ParkesLockwood, who Berry has known since drama school (she was in third year when he was beginning his studies). “I remember admiring her work and thinking she was a terrific actress,” he explains. “Then, when I was told she was going to play Olivia, I was really excited that she was going to be the person I would be sharing most of my scenes with.” Now that their onscreen partnership will end, it’s hard to say goodbye. “Not just as James and Olivia, but as David and Arianwen, we have been through a lot together,” Berry says. “I have had a kid [Berry’s son is 2 in September], she has had a kid—six years is a long time, and we have grown with these characters together.”