''The Appleton Ladies' Potato Race'' is a 2023 Australian feature film based on the stage play of the same name by Australian playwright and journalist

Melanie Tait Melanie Tait is an Australian playwright and author. She is from Robertson, New South Wales. Career At 20 years of age she wrote the ''The Vegemite Tales'', which played in London over seven years from 2001 to 2007, including two years on the ...

. The film premiered in Australia on

Network Ten Network 10 (commonly known as Ten Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network owned by Ten Network Holdings, a division of the Paramount Networks UK & Australia subsidiary of Paramount Global. One of five ...

and was released on streaming on

Paramount+ Australia Paramount Networks UK & Australia (formerly ViacomCBS Networks UK & Australia) is a subsidiary of Paramount Global. The unit launched in 2020 and is based in London, United Kingdom, with a local office in Sydney, Australia. Units See also ...

Plot

Doctor Penny Anderson moves from Sydney to her childhood home of Appleton. While visiting the hair salon of her sister Nikki, Penny sees a flyer advertising The Appleton Show and its famous potato race. She discovers the men's first prize pays out $2,000 and the winning woman's prize is only $200. Penny leads a protest which causes turmoil in Appleton, particularly with Nikki, who is the current champion. Nikki's brother-in-law Gavin vigorously opposes any increase in the prize money for the women's race, and when Penny succeeds in raising enough money to offer a bigger prize, he attempts to sabotage the ladies' race.

Cast

* Claire van der Boom as Penny Anderson *

Katie Wall Katie Wall is an Australian actress who has appeared in various television and film roles. Filmography Film Television External links * Katie Wall at Channel Nine's Underbelly Site Katie Wall's first novel will be published by Scribe in M ...

as Nikki Anderson Bunyan * Genevieve Lemon as Barb Brickner *

Tiriel Mora Tiriel Mora (born 19 October 1958) is an Australian television and film actor. Early life He is a son of the late Melbourne artist Mirka Mora and Georges Mora, German-born Australian entrepreneur, art dealer, patron, connoisseur and restaurat ...

as Bob Bunyan * Robyn Nevin as Joan Bunyan *Olivia Stamboulia as Rania Hamid *

Andy Ryan Andy Ryan (born 29 September 1994) is a Scottish professional footballer who plays as a striker for Larne in the Irish Premiership. Ryan began his career with Hamilton Academical, before moving on to Forfar Athletic and subsequently playing ...

as Gavin Bunyan *

Cece Peters Cecelia Peters, known professionally as Cece Peters, is an Australian television and theatre actress. Her career began with playing Tiger Johnson on the Nine Network children's series '' Snake Tales''. She later joined the cast of the Network Te ...

as Kazzy Pearce * Rohan Nichol as Mark Bunyan *Nicholas Bakopoulos-Cooke as Elliot Bunyan *TJ Barrett as Ethan Bunyan *William Glinellis as Eddie Bunyan *Safia Arain as Miriam Hamid *

Darren Gilshenan Darren Gilshenan is an Australian actor and writer. He is best known for his in television series ''The Moodys'', ''Maximum Choppage'', ''Chandon Pictures'' and '' Full Frontal''. Early life Darren was first introduced to acting while he was a ...

as Billy Pope * John Batchelor as Billy Pearce * Maggie Dence as Miss Vaughn *

John Gaden John Stuart Gaden (born 13 November 1941) is an Australian actor and director known particularly for his stage career, although he has also made some film and television appearances. Career John Gaden was born in Sydney where his father owned ...

as Dr Holliday *Will McNeill as Luke Pearce

Production

The film is based on a play by Melanie Tait, originally developed and performed with the Ensemble Theatre in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

. This was inspired by a real event in Tait's hometown of Robertson, New South Wales. The film was shot in Sydney and the Southern Highlands with finance from Screen Australia, Screen NSW, and the NSW Regional Film Fund.

Reception

Andrew Mercardo of '' Mediaweek'' called it "charming… whilst it doesn’t play like a pilot, it would make for a great ongoing series." Lenny Ann Low of '' The Sydney Morning Herald'' described the film as "sparky, funny, compassionate and honest."

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Appleton Ladies Potato Race, The 2023 television films 2023 films Australian comedy-drama films 2010s Australian plays 2019 plays Plays set in the 21st century Films set in the 2020s Films set in 2022 Films set in New South Wales 2020s English-language films Screen Australia films Paramount+ original films Network 10 original programming