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

Melanie Tait Melanie Tait (born ) is an Australian playwright and author. a freelance journalist, she often writes for ABC Online, ''Guardian Australia'', and news.com.au. She is the author of several plays, including ''The Appleton Ladies' Potato Race'', wh ...

. The film premiered in Australia on

Network Ten Network 10 (commonly known as the 10 Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Paramount Global's Paramount Networks UK & Australia, UK & Australia division and is o ...

and was released on streaming on

Paramount+ Australia Paramount Networks UK & Australia, formerly ViacomCBS Networks UK & Australia, is a division of Paramount Global launched on 14 January 2020. It is based in London, England, with a local office in Sydney, Australia. Units See also * Plut ...

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 as Nikki Anderson Bunyan *

Genevieve Lemon Genevieve Lemon (born 1959) is an Australian actress and singer who has appeared in a number of Australian television series and international film, including a frequent collaboration with Jane Campion for Academy Award-winning ''The Piano'' (1 ...

as Barb Brickner *

Tiriel Mora Tiriel Mora (born 19 October 1958) is an Australian television and film actor. Early life Tiriel Mora's parents were French-born visual artist Mirka Mora and German-born entrepreneur, art dealer and restauranteur Georges Mora. His older brot ...

as Bob Bunyan *

Robyn Nevin Robyn Anne Nevin (25 September 1942) is an Australian actress recognised with the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards and the JC Williamson Award at the Helpmann Awards for her outstanding contributions to Australian theatre performance art. F ...

as Joan Bunyan *Olivia Stamboulia as Rania Hamid * Andy Ryan as Gavin Bunyan * Cece Peters as Kazzy Pearce *

Rohan Nichol Rohan Nichol (born 4 July 1976) is an Australian television and film actor. His roles include Raymus Antilles in '' Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith'', Aaron Collingwood in '' All Saints'', and Detective Luc Palermo in ''headLan ...

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 roles in television series ''The Moodys'', '' Maximum Choppage'', ''Chandon Pictures'' and '' Full Frontal''. Early life Growing up in Brisbane, Darren was first intr ...

as Billy Pope *

John Batchelor John Calvin Batchelor (born April 29, 1948) is an American author and the host of ''Eye on the World'' on the CBS Audio Network. His flagship station is WOR in New York City. The show is a hard-news-analysis radio program on current events, wo ...

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 The Ensemble Theatre is an Australian theatre company and theatre, situated in the Sydney suburb of Kirribilli, New South Wales. History It is Australia's longest continuously running professional theatre group, having given its first perfor ...

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

. This was inspired by a real event in Tait's hometown of

Robertson, New South Wales Robertson is a town in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia, in Wingecarribee Shire. The town is located on the edge of an elevated plateau (the Illawarra escarpment) about from the coast. Robertson is known for its high annua ...

. The film was shot in Sydney and the Southern Highlands with finance from

Screen Australia Screen Australia is the Australian Federal Government's key funding body for the Australian screen production industry, created under the ''Screen Australia Act 2008''. From 1 July 2008 Screen Australia took over the functions of its predecess ...

Screen NSW ---> Screen NSW, formerly known as the New South Wales Film and Television Office, or FTO, and before that the New South Wales Film Corporation, is a brand name that is part of Create NSW, an agency of the Government of New South Wales that is re ...

, and the NSW Regional Film Fund.

Reception

Andrew Mercardo of ''

Mediaweek ''Mediaweek'' is an online trade website serving the Australian media industry. It provides news regarding the Australian List of newspapers in Australia, newspaper, Television in Australia, television, List of Australian radio stations, radio, ...

'' 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 ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, Australia, and owned by Nine Entertainment. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuous ...

'' 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 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 2020s Australian films Australian television films