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With Dalliance, television continues its brave expeditions into unknown narrative lands. It was forced first to venture into women’s stories (using female writers, directors, stars and, oh my goodness, sometimes it was just wall-to-wall womanity, you know?) in the post-Weinstein years. Previously unassailable figures were toppling like ninepins and investors needed to take refuge in those unlikely to have problematic pasts who were likely to tank projects the moment any reporter turned a beady eye upon them.
That turned out quite well. Women were not as boring as we had been led to believe, and were often capable of anchoring quite interesting, intelligent or funny shows. Sometimes they were all three at the same time, even if they weren’t called Fleabag.
That got commissioners wondering if they could try the same trick with age rather than sex as the undiscovered country. New Tricks walked so that The Split, Last Tango in Halifax, Happy Valley, The Thursday Murder Club and Ride or Die might run.
Now to this illustrious list we may add the wonderful Dalliance, an Australian six-parter beautifully written by Pip Karmel and directed with requisite subtlety by Emma Jackon. It stars Hugo Weaving as bonhomous retired cameraman Billy who is the catalyst for the reunion of enough old friends – all in their 60s – to provide viewers with a feast of storylines, hilarious and heartbreaking by turns, and all suffused with the kind of irreverence and honesty that makes you instantly devoted to the whole endeavour.
Dani (Heather Mitchell) first meets Billy when he needs to hide under one of the tables she is catering on a ferry at a sailing event in Sydney Harbour. The man pursuing him (“Dickhead!”) is, he explains later, his brother Gary (David Wenham). It’s about money and an inheritance and Gary’s history as a jailbird and addict. They’re all right really. “Chalk and cheese,” says Gary later. “If chalk hated cheese’s guts.”
To thank Dani for her aid, Billy places a bet for her on the next boat race. His long-odds pick duly romps home and he takes her back to his place to meet his wife Rose (Georgie Parker) and raise a glass to their good fortune. Billy falls asleep almost immediately. The women continue to bond over wine. Dani asks Rose if she can “borrow” Billy to use as her plus-one at an forthcoming do that promises, for unspecified reasons, to be a nightmare for her to attend alone. Rose seeks to clarify: “No sex?” “God no,” replies Dani. Rose agrees and so does Billy – though it hardly matters – when he wakes up.
Their evening together unfolds through easy, unforced flashbacks during the remainder of the episodes, and in the meantime we get to know the rest of the gang. The guys – Billy’s best friend Rex (Russell Dykstra) who is happily coupled up with thirtysomething Dylan (Ryan Panizza), playboy Mani (Kirk Torrance), fully domesticated Luke (Wayne Blair) – are teammates from his rugby-playing days. Sarah (Catherine McClements) and Adele (Carolyn Bock), the latter married to Luke for 34 years, both date from the same era – as does Rose – and they have the rude, easy banter and rhythms that only decades of shared history can produce. Soon, Mani and Sarah are enjoying more literally rhythmic delights together, once they have peered closely enough at her handbag lube to check the use-by date is OK. It’s 2018, but as Sarah notes, what is there in it that can go off?
Dalliance is not about plot. There are no murders nor mysteries to be investigated or suspects to be harangued – except the gentle reveal of what happened during Dani and Billy’s evening out. It’s a mood piece and an array of portraits (some more finely-drawn than others – Adele perhaps the most underserved) of characters who have actually lived some life, been formed by meaningful experiences and come out the other side – at a later stage than we are used to seeing on our screens. And they and we are only better off for it.
It’s a bit hard to talk about specifics without giving away a pivotal event, which reviewers have been asked not to do, so forgive any woolliness that creeps in. Good and bad decisions (sometimes marital. Sometimes on dating apps. Occasionally about a comeback tour) are made. People upset each other and find their way back to each other (“Do it again and I’m going to cut your balls off”). Grief touches everyone and life goes on. Dalliance is about the benefits of older age – the harvest you get to reap only after putting years of yourself into your friendships, your relationships, your work, your children, your life. All the things that can’t be rushed, can’t be forced, can’t be faked. It’s good.
