''The Family Law'' is an Australian comedy television program created by Benjamin Law. The six-part series, loosely adapted from Law's 2010 book of the same name, was written by Law and

Marieke Hardy Marieke Josephine Hardy (born 26 May 1976) is an Australian writer, radio and television presenter, television producer and screenwriter and former television actress. Early life and family Hardy is the granddaughter of Frank Hardy, author of ...

. The series was produced by

Matchbox Pictures Matchbox Pictures is a film and television production company headquartered in Sydney with production houses in Sydney, Melbourne and Singapore. It was formed in 2008 by Tony Ayres, Penny Chapman, Helen Bowden, Michael McMahon and Helen Panckhu ...

and screened on SBS from 14 January 2016. A second season of the show premiered on 15 June 2017. The third and final season of the show aired on 12 January 2019. The show streams on Hulu in the US.

Plot

The series follows the dysfunctional world of a

Chinese-Australian Chinese Australians () are Australians of Overseas Chinese, Chinese ancestry. Chinese Australians are one of the largest groups within the global Overseas Chinese, Chinese diaspora, and are the largest Asian Australian community. Per capita, Au ...

family through the eyes of 14-year-old Benjamin Law. It is set on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, but filmed in Sunnybank Brisbane, over a long, hot summer the family will never forget. The family consists of Benjamin Law, eldest sister Candy, older brother Andrew, younger sisters Tammy and Michelle and parents Jenny and Danny.

Cast

Main cast

* Trystan Go as Benjamin Law * Fiona Choi as Jenny Law *

Anthony Brandon Wong Anthony Brandon Wong (born 12 May 1965), often credited simply as Anthony Wong, is an Australian actor. His roles include Ghost in ''The Matrix Reloaded'' and '' The Matrix Revolutions''. Career His role of Ghost from ''The Matrix Reloaded'' ...

as Danny Law * Shuang Hu as Candy Law * George Zhao as Andrew Law * Karina Lee as Tammy Law * Vivian Wei as Michelle Law * Bethany Whitmore as Melissa Hills, Benjamin's friend

Recurring cast

* Kimie Tsukakoshi as Heidi Thomson *

Takaya Honda Takaya Honda (born 6 September 1987) is an actor and television presenter. He is perhaps best known for his roles as Josh in the children's television series '' A gURLs wURLd'', Klaus Thomson in the comedy series '' The Family Law'' and David Ta ...

as Klaus Thomson * Sam Cotton as Wayne, Candy's boyfriend * Diana Lin as Maisy, Jenny's acquaintance * Loretta Kung as Daisy, Jenny's acquaintance

Episodes

Series 1 (2016)

Series 2 (2017)

Series 3 (2019)

Reception and ratings

During the run of its first series ''The Family Law'' averaged a national audience of 417,000. It was also the highest viewed program on

SBS On Demand SBS is a national public television network in Australia. Launched on 24 October 1980, it is the responsibility of SBS's television division, and is available nationally. In 2018, SBS had a 7.7% audience share. As of 2022, SBS is the lowest ...

throughout the series. The program attracted an audience of 1.1 million views for its exclusive Facebook premiere of its first episode days before it aired on television.

Critical reception

The program has received critical acclaim from critics. One critic from ''Daily Review Australia'' said "the core challenge is making a captivating comedy series about normal people living normal lives. The Family Law gives it a good crack, and has an amiable quality that many viewers will find endearing." Another critic from ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' said "there’s so much detail, warmth and gentle humour to the script, direction and production design that the characters and settings are relatable for anyone who grew up – or is growing up – in Australia." She gave the program 4 out of 5 stars.

Awards and accolades

References

External links

* ' * {{DEFAULTSORT:Family Law, The Special Broadcasting Service original programming 2010s Australian comedy television series 2016 Australian television series debuts 2019 Australian television series endings Television series by Matchbox Pictures