When the ABC announced it was remaking the Aussie comedy Mother and Son it raised more than a few eyebrows.

The original series is remembered as one of the best comedies Australia has ever produced, so it’s a bold move to mess with a classic.

Penned by Geofrey Atherden, the original series ran for 10 series from 1984 with its final episode airing a decade later. It documented the relationship between freshly separated middle-aged man Arthur and his ageing mother Maggie.

The show’s characters are iconic, and nearly forty years after its debut Australia still holds the characters and the actors who portrayed them in high esteem.

The late Ruth Cracknell found her greatest role as the ageing and forgetful Maggie, Garry McDonald’s Arthur embodied every child struggling with an older parent, while Henzi Szeps played incorrigible older brother Robbie, and Judy Morris filled the role of his aspirational wife Liz. Even Suzanne Roylance’s character of Deidre, Arthur’s ex-wife made a lasting impression despite only appearing in five of the show’s 42 episodes.

This new version is written by comedian, author, and former Tripple J host Matt Okine, who takes on the role of Arthur. While the delightful Denise Scott daringly steps in Maggie’s shoes.

Rebooting the much-loved series for a new generation was an idea Okine put to production company Wooden Horse when they asked him if he had any thoughts on what he’d like to make next following his previous success with the Stan series The Other Guy. 

At first producers Richard Finlayson and Jude Troy were taken aback, but they loved the bold proposal and decided to give it a shot. When they pitched the idea to the ABC’s Head of Comedy Todd Abbott, he had the same reaction about messing with a classic, but Okine’s treatment of how the show could work in 2023 turned him around.

However, Abbott warned, they’d first have to convince the series’ original creator Geoffrey Atherden. So, Troy and Finlayson set about wooing Atherden, whose initial response to the idea was not positive.

Troy recalls: “Geoffrey Atherden’s agent said, ‘Absolutely no way. Everybody has tried to option this for years.’ And we thought, ‘OK, hang on a second, we probably need to meet Geoffrey.’ And we invited him to lunch, because I was curious to get to know someone who’d crafted arguably one of Australia’s most successful exports, and also one of its most successful shows locally.

“It was just absolutely wonderful chatting to him, and we had this great lunch,” Troy continues. “Richard and I came back to the office, and I sent Geoffrey an email to say thank you and he sent an email back saying, ‘Thank you so much for lunch, but no’.”

Troy and Finlayson knew it was time to get Okine involved in the process. “Not thwarted, I then suggested that Geoffrey meet with Matt,” Troy explains. “It was quite extraordinary. We took Matt to meet Geoffrey, and Richard and I almost faded into the wallpaper of this restaurant. It was like a family reconnecting after a long time, and they just hit it off so quickly. And, within a few days, Geoffrey sent an email and said, ‘I really want to do this. Matt’s the man to take it forward’.”

At first it feels like the new version of the show has worked its way through a diversity check list to bring it into modern Australia. Before it’s aired you can hear the sound of conservative commentors getting ready to sign and roll their eyes.

In this new iteration the setup is almost identical. Following a break-up from his long-term girlfriend Dee, Arthur puts his future on hold to move back home with his widowed mother, Maggie. As where the characters in the original series were the Beare family, here they are the Boye family.

Arthur’s older sister Robbie – arguably ‘the favourite’ – attempt to care for Maggie, who although she might have burnt down the kitchen, still run circles around her children.

The big changes are this is now a multi-cultural family, Arthur’s late father was from Ghana and Maggie’s disappointed that the successful family restaurant he created in suburban Australia now stands empty because Arthur had now desire to follow in his father’s culinary footsteps.

Rather than older brother Robbie, in this version Robbie is Arthur’s sister with Angela Nica Sullen making the part her own. She’s a lesbian married to Liz, played by the amazing Virginia Gay. Andrea Demetriades plays Athur’s ex-girlfriend Dee.

There’s also some new character thrown into the mix, Catherine Văn-Davies plays Maya, a love interest for Arthur.  She’s the daughter of a Vietnamese-Australian family that has run a fruit shop in Sydney’s Western Suburbs for years. Recently, the family has been branching out, taking over a local dance studio and – to Maggie’s surprise and horror – the site of the Boye family’s Ghanaian restaurant.

Ferdinand Hoang plays Maya’s father Tony; he’s always had an eye for Maggie.

At first, if you’re a fan of the original series, it’s hard not to make comparisons. But after a few episodes you quickly warm to these alternative versions of Maggie, Arthur, Robbie, Liz and Dee.

It’s a different beast, its set in a world where discussions about sexuality flow more freely and questions about ageing are more topical. What remains is the central premise of children dealing with ageing parents, and parent’s showing they’ve still got something to offer.

Denise Scott says her Maggie Boye is “quite a radical person and thinker. She’s manipulative, incredibly so, and a lot of fun because of that. And she’s pretty fearless – not really afraid to
go and do anything. She’s a lot of fun, but I wouldn’t want to be her children. She makes merry hell in their lives.”

To make sure the relationship between Maggie and Arthur explores all its possibilities, Scott was also part of the writer’s room generating ideas for the series.

“We needed Denise Scott in the room, just so that me and her could feel that relationship and the dynamic and explore the wild situations that Maggie could get into.” Okine said.

After watching the first four episodes of the 10-part series, I’d fallen in love with new Maggie and Arthur. The series hits the mark depicting the different stages we pass through in life, and the laughs abound.

Mother and Son makes its debut on Wednesday 23rd August on ABCTV and iview.

Graeme Watson 

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