Twenty-five years after The Secret Life Of Us burst onto our screens, the cast has gathered to reflect on the milestone. And, boy, did they reveal some surprising secrets!
Appearing on the podcast McLaren versus, hosted by actor Spencer McLaren – who played Richie Blake from 2001-2003 – co-stars Claudia Karvan, Deborah Mailman and Samuel Johnson opened up about the generation-defining series.
A cultural turning point in Australian television, the series – which ran for four seasons, from 2001-2006 – was an instant hit with viewers. It scored three consecutive TV WEEK Logie Awards for Most Outstanding Drama Series (2002, 2003, 2004), along with individual awards for the core cast, and a host of AFI Awards.
With so many medical dramas on TV at the time, Deb believes the show stood out for its unique viewpoint on life for early twenty-somethings.
“Along comes a very character-driven show that really spoke to that group of who we were at that time – that early twenties where you’re really trying to fit in to life,” she explains. “I don’t think anyone else was doing it at that time. People just gravitated to it, and particularly people of our age just loved it because they related to it.”
With so many great revelations from the candid conversation, we break down the Top 7 that surprised us the most.
Samuel’s ‘terrible’ audition admission
Having been working pretty steadily for six years prior to The Secret Life Of Us, Samuel should have been a pro at auditioning. However, it turns out that couldn’t have been further from the case.
Reflecting on that fateful day, Samuel admits he couldn’t have been less prepared for the audition. Yet, perhaps his unpreparedness is exactly what scored him the role of lovable larrikin Evan Wylde.
“I’d been partying the whole night before, didn’t know my lines and I wasn’t wearing shoes,” he reflects with a laugh. “And I think I was still a bit high – I think I had some pingers that night – and I rocked up and I honestly, didn’t give a f… It was enough for me to just get there.”
After he “read the whole thing off the page”, Samuel says he walked away from the audition not giving it a second thought.
But fate had other ideas, and he got the call that he’d landed the role shortly after.
“I did just a terrible job and they thought, ‘That’s him!’” he says with a laugh. “And then they told me that Claudia Karvan had signed and I said, ‘Show me the dotted line – I’m in!’”
Claudia only committed to four episodes
In the early 2000s, there was a clear divide between television and film actors. And one did not stray into the other’s realm. For film stars to venture into TV was especially looked down on as being beneath them.
So when Claudia was put forward for the role in what she believed was a “soap”, she felt like the ultimate failure.
“My agent was Robyn Gardner, and she had always said, ‘No TV, she’d never do TV’ – we were very focused on film,” she recalls. “And that’s what you did in those days, you didn’t look at TV if you wanted to have a decent career.
“Then she rang me and went, ‘There’s this great TV show and I think you should sign up and be in it.’”
Claudia admits she “didn’t sleep for two nights” afterwards, thinking her agent had lost all belief in her. “I was just devastated!” she says. “I was like, ‘She has no faith in me. This sucks!’”
While she went back and forth over her decision for a few days, she eventually committed – but only for four episodes.
“‘I’m not signing on for the whole series – I’ll only give you four episodes,’” she recalls telling creator John Edwards. “And John is so smart, he just went, ‘Yeah, that’s fine’ – which is impossible; you can’t do a series with one of the leads only on for four episodes!
“So he just completely indulged me,” she says with a laugh.
Claudia didn’t understand her “smart-dumb” character
Upon first reading the script, the actress admits she “didn’t understand” her character, Dr. Alex Christensen.
“She’s really smart – she’s a surgeon – but why is she so dumb with men? Like, that doesn’t make any sense,’” she demanded of producers.
“And they were like, ‘Umm, Claudia, people are flawed and sometimes really smart people don’t know their way in love.’ And I was like, ‘Oh right, cool, that’s interesting.’”
With her worries assuaged, she was all in!
Spencer wasn’t the first choice to play Richie
For Spencer, The Secret Life Of Us nearly didn’t happen. The actor revealed that the role of Richie was previously cast with another actor prior to him signing on.
“There was a chap called Paul Leyden who was cast in the role of Richie. Then Paul got offered a three-year contract on As The World Turns in New York, doing an American soap, and so he pulled out,” Spencer explained of his good fortune.
Working on Home And Away at the time, Spencer hadn’t initially auditioned. But when the role came up again, he jumped at the chance – especially to work with already established actors Claudia, Deborah, Abi Tucker and Joel Edgerton.
“I was basically six months out of drama school, so I was very, you know, serious,” he reflects. “When the offer came to me, Claudia, you were obviously onboard, Deb, you were onboard, Abi was onboard – the star from Heartbreak High – Joel was the up-and-coming new kid on the block. So I was just going ‘Yes, please! Sign me up immediately!’”
The show was a lifeline for “broke” Deborah
Receiving the call from John that the role of Kelly Lewis was hers was the news Deborah not only wanted but desperately needed.
“I was just happy ’cause I was broke. I was living in Sydney and I was goddamn broke, I was trying to find any job possible,” she reflects.
Excited to relocate to Melbourne and “start a new life”, Deb admits she was “still really green” herself at that point.
“I didn’t know what I was doing with my life,” she admits.
The series was originally set in Bondi!
While the show was so iconically ‘St Kilda’, that wasn’t actually the original plan.
According to Spencer, from the get go, the script was based in Bondi, in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs. But before it went into production, the decision was made to move the setting to Victoria to appeal to a broader audience.
“Because Melbourne audiences gravitate towards Melbourne-made content and Sydney was kind of agnostic,” Spencer reveals. “So they made the decision to move it to Melbourne and set it in St Kilda instead of Bondi.”
The location ended up being a huge key to the show’s success.
“As a Melburnian, St Kilda was absolutely a character in the show,” says Samuel. “People would visit the apartment we shot the exteriors [at].”
In a case of life imitating art, Samuel added that the Sydney-based actors all moved into a share house together – in St Kilda.
While the sets were built from scratch – in Box Hill, Victoria – sadly they weren’t immortalized after the show came to an end. Instead, a Bunnings now stands where the set once was!
The cast’s first TV WEEK Logie Awards was seriously star-studded
While the cast joke that no-one knew who they were the first time they attended the TV WEEK Logie Awards – stepping out of their car to a see of confused faces – Claudia recalls that it was memorable nonetheless.
Walking the red carpet into the ceremony, they were right behind none other than a music superstar.
“Beyoncé!” she declares fondly. “Destiny’s Child was playing and we walked in behind Beyoncé!
“I will never forget that! They performed in front of us. It was amazing!”
In the space of a year, however, things changed dramatically. A certified hit, their second year at the Logies the cast went from being seated up the back to being right at the front.
Kath & Kim even did a skit “taking the p***” out of Spencer’s character, much to his delight!
“I was like, ‘Yes! I’ve made it! Kath and Kim know who I am,” she says with a laugh.
