Last Days of the Space Age is the retro Australian drama taking us on a trip down memory lane, to Perth in 1979.
Set in a small suburban cul-de-sac nestled amongst the chaos of a city in turmoil, Last Days of the Space Age is tied together by the most peculiar string of events: a strike at a local power company, the arrival of Miss Universe contestants from around the globe, and the crashing US Space Station Skylab that threatens to hit the city head-on.
At a time when Perth was at the 'centre' of the world's headlines, the series turns our attention to three families.
Jesse Spencer takes a break from Hollywood to return home, starring as Tony Bissett – a family man and foreman at a local power plant who is leading the workers in a strike against management.
His wife Judy, played by the talented Radha Mitchell, works on the other side of the picket-line as an administrative assistant to management.
"I'm a bit nostalgic myself so being able to come back here to jump back into that time and that pace was really special ," Mitchell tells Mamamia.
"I'd been looking for a project in Australia for forever and this one finally came, it was a nice 1970s vignette about different families, it was quirky and funny with deeper elements," adds Spencer.
Despite Tony and Judy's loving marriage, the professional divide causes obvious problems at home. Which isn't exactly helping the chaos of their household, with two teenage daughters at odds with one another.
Tilly (Mackenzie Mazur) dreams of becoming an astronaut and is obsessed with tracking Skylab, though her careers counsellor tells her to "get married and have some kids" instead of having aspirations. Meanwhile, little sister Mia (Emily Grant) has no interest in school and only wants to surf with her grandad, Bob (played by Game of Thrones star, Iain Glen).
Elsewhere in the cul-de-sac, Eileen Wilberforce (played by the iconic Deborah Mailman) has taken in her grandson Bilya (Heartbreak High's Thomas Weatherall), who struggles with a prejudiced local police officer and his new school's very whitewashed version of Indigenous history.
Then there is the Bui family, with Sandy (decorated French-Vietnamese actress Linh-Dan Pham), Lam (Vico Thai) and their son, Jono (Aidan du Chiem). The Vietnamese family own a beachside food truck, where they serve up fish, chips and pho to the community — who aren't always the most welcoming. While Sandy and Lam attempt to move forward with their lives, they are routinely pulled back to the past due to their grief over their other, missing son.
Outside of these three families, Miss USSR is a standout character in this ensemble. Svetlana (Ines English) and her manager Yvgeny (Jacek Koman) touch down in Aus for the Miss Universe pageant, where she is met with a bucket of paint from angry crowds.
Tony's brother Mick (George Mason) resolves to help her become one of the most popular pageant contestants – with the help of his burgeoning TV business.
So, those are the players. But as they prepare to face all these chaotic events at once, you might be asking yourself what drives this story?
Times are changing, in more ways than one. But at the heart of Last Days of the Space Age lies a central message of hope.
"It's a great mirror to who we are now. It's not just a 'period piece.' We may look back to 1979 and think we're not like that anymore. But humans are human," says set-up director Bharat Nalluri (Shantaram, Little America, Boy Swallows Universe).
"We have the same issues, the same worries, and the same hopes that we have now. I think that's what really drives it."
Mitchell echoes his sentiments, that a modern audience will find universal themes as they watch the eight-part series.
"Having it be historical just demonstrates how it's always been the same, hasn't it? Like we've always struggled with change. Anything new is daunting but I believe in the human spirit, we've made it through so far I'll think we'll figure it out," she tells Mamamia. "I want [viewers] to feel optimistic about the uncertainties that we currently face and to bravely soldier on in their own ways."
The series is firmly planted in 1979 with the help of a sensational soundtrack that boasts ABBA, David Bowie and Olivia Newton-John — along with an enviable wardrobe for the cast, and a precisely detailed set.
"You are always slightly at the mercy of costume and makeup and art [departments] as an actor, but they were so good. I loved the feel of it," says Iain Glen. He admits that seeing the settings for the first time, he could "feel" the history of each character in their homes.
"That's the really fun bit, I think, when you're actually on set and you're thrust into that universe that's when things get good," adds Spencer.
Of course, the series is also anchored to its era through serious themes including immigration, racism, misogyny, and homophobia.
The Wilberforce family paint an important picture of life for a multigenerational Indigenous family in this period.
Eileen's relationship with her daughter is fractured, as they disagree on the 'right' way to be Indigenous in this suburban setting. In contrast, her grandson Bilya is ready to tackle the racist institutions put before him — from police officers, to school teachers.
"Her own family is frustrated by her lack of wanting to be vocal about Indigenous rights. It's very much about fitting in, not rocking the boat too much," Mailman says of her character. "She starts to find purpose in looking after Bilya."
Though it's less screen time than we've seen from Weatherall in projects like Heartbreak High, he still shines through in this role. For the actor, the chance to work alongside Mailman was a key drawcard.
"It was, without a word of a lie, a dream come true," Weatherall tells Mamamia of playing Mailman's grandson in the series.
"That was the first thing I knew about the show and I went, 'who do I pay to get that job'? She's one of our best actors but she's an even better person, genuinely I can't speak highly enough about her."
For the Bui family, their immigration has seen them "starting from scratch" in Australia. While Lam was an engineer in Vietnam, in Australia he runs a fast food truck.
"It was very personal to me to get onto this project. It's a very specific family, a Vietnamese family, and that's very rare. Coming from France I've not seen that in any show," Pham says of playing Sandy.
"Also the fact that some of my relatives have gone through what Sandy went through, you know learning a new language, not knowing what tomorrow is going to bring, being from a middle class family and then starting from nothing," she says.
In Last Days of the Space Age, Sandy is stuck in the past as she clings to the hope that her son is still alive. But her husband pushes forward from grief, hoping to provide a brilliant new life for his wife and son in Australia.
"What I liked about Sandy and Lam is that they have two different perspectives. He's looking forward to the future, he's not looking back. And she's still in mourning and in pain for what they had to give up."
Sandy and Lam aren't the only couple at odds with each other.
As Tony leads his workers on strike, he struggles with the idea that his wife Judy has become his professional enemy (of sorts). Though he wants to support Judy (and his daughters) in being more ambitious, his own ego as the provider of the family can get in the way.
"They've come out of a more traditional time, they're trying to ride the line on both. They want stability but they also want to encourage hopes and dreams [for their daughters], the idea that women can get out there and be in the workforce and you don't have to just be a homemaker that you can have greater aspirations than that. They're working through that as they go along," Spencer says of their push-and-pull.
"Having the two characters and their perspectives both being given equal attention gives real nuanced — you get to notice the hypocrisy in their own perspectives," Mitchell says.
"They challenge themselves by looking at each other, and they're trying to stay in alignment with each other… because they're married… they've gotta figure it out! But growth personally is challenging, and growth in alignment with someone else is challenging. I think they really have to look at themselves through the lens of each other."
Though it may be set in 1979, this married dynamic is hardly going to catch modern audiences off guard. Time may hurtle on, but marital woes remain the hot topic of the day… every day.
"Last Days of the Space Age is about family, how to resolve issues, how to live with each other," says Iain Glen. "I think it's entertaining, it's a funny piece, and conjuring up/transporting people to a very different era of memory lane. I hope it teaches people about humanity, like all the best drama does."
Last Days of the Space Age is streaming on Disney+ now.
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