Rosehaven returns to the ABC for its second season this Wednesday night with more of the comedic genius of its creators, writers and stars: Luke McGregor and Celia Pacquola.
The Tasmanian-made series won many fans in season one. Its gentle humour winning praise from critics and became a runaway success for the national broadcaster.
Season two sees Daniel trying to prove that he has what it takes to earn his place in the family real estate business, while flatmate Emma is now his rival in the office.
Best mates in real life, McGregor and Pacquloa sat down with DeciderTV to talk about Rosehaven, Tassie, Ghostbusters and baby goats.
Not surprisingly, returning to Tasmania to film season two over nine weeks was a lot easier the second time around.
Celia: It is a easier, for sure, because we answered a lot of the big questions; what the tone’s going to be, what’s it going to look like. So, it was really just getting down to the fun of it.
Luke: Trying to make the episodes work from the story point of view first. I mean, all we want to do is write jokes but there’s so much sort of skeletal work to do, I guess.
Celia: But it all makes it more worthwhile in the end. So grateful for that work.
One of the bonuses of being the creator and writer of a show is that you get to create scenes that are easy to deliver as a character you know so well. You also get to write scenes just for you.
Celia: We write it in a way that we would say it. A lot of the time, sometimes it’s from ad libbing that the words are then written down”.
Luke: We just had to have more fun this season, I think. Last season, we worried about establishing the characters and the plot and this season, we were just able to double down on just having fun”.
Celia: And really big set pieces..
Luke: And baby goats.
Celia: A petting zoo. I wrote a petting zoo for myself.. It was the best day ever. I just love that there was a day when it was my job to hold a baby goat. But it can’t come back. It was a scene stealing little adorable thing. So, it’s not allowed back on the show”.
Rosehaven has found an audience in the US on Skydance TV; part of the AMC network. Season one is currently airing and season two will premiere the same time as in Australia.
Celia: We’re going over there for the launch in America. So, that will be, I guess, when we find out what the reaction is. We don’t know. We honestly don’t know what they think. In my mind, they watch it and in their eyes it’s like Teletubbies.
Luke: There so many different providers that there’s an opportunity for any international show to get a showing in the US. We’re very lucky that SundanceTV took a chance on us. To be honest, I’ve been completely focussed on where we’re staying and how close it is to the Ghostbusters Fire House and that’s all I want to do is go there, take a selfie and go home.
With season two about to air, it’s inevitable that there’s already talk of a third season. And both admit it’s a possibility.
Luke: We’d love to keep going. We still haven’t done a martial arts story line. Still haven’t had any vampires arrive in the town. There’s a lot more stuff to visit.
Nikole Gunn has been a watcher of TV since the 70s. A writer of words since the 80s. A reader of the news since the 90s; mostly on Triple M, Nova and Gold.
Twitter – @NikoleGunn