South Pacific Pictures

The Wests are a one-family crime wave with a proud tradition in thievery, larceny and petty crime. Or at least they used to be. At the beginning of Series 1 of Outrageous Fortune, family matriarch Cheryl West decided enough is enough; the family must clean up their act and go straight.

They tried. Sort of. Well, most of them gave it a bit of a bash, but it's not easy to be a saint when you have the DNA of a sinner. Despite much opposition from her husband, Wolf; and the occasional temptation to veer from her chosen path, Cheryl led by example. Sure there were a few laws broken along the way in the name of the greater good and she did end up falling in love with a policeman, but even she is not perfect.

SYNOPSIS

Outrageous Fortune 2 picks up the story of the West family and their attempts to stay out of trouble – but one major thing has changed: Wolf is out; on home detention, to be precise. And he, for one, never bought into Cheryl's grand plan for his family.

All the usual suspects are here again: Cheryl, still determined to save her brood from following in their father's fingerprints; Wolf himself, who does not intend to take his wife's sudden wave of righteousness lying down; eldest son Jethro, an ambitious lawyer with a few secrets; Jethro's twin Van (identical except in the brains department) who only wants to follow in his father's footsteps; eighteen year-old Pascalle, an aspiring model and future Rachel Hunter whose career is in ruins; fifteen year-old movie buff Loretta, who is leading a double life; and Grandpa Ted, who may have Alzheimers – unless he's just playing it up to annoy people.

Then there's Detective Sergeant Wayne Judd, at one time the West family nemesis, now Cheryl's lover; Munter, Van's best mate and partner in crime; Eric, the not-to-be-trusted family offsider; Kasey and Rochelle, Cheryl's business partners in her Hoochie Mama underwear business; and Tracy Hong, Jethro's lover.

Outrageous Fortune is a comedy-drama series about the wrong sort of people trying to do the right thing when the rewards for going straight are neither immediate nor bountiful. Outrageous Fortune is a bold, fresh comedy-drama which is by turns bawdy, action-packed, satirical and trashy - but only ever a heartbeat away from reality.

Created by James Griffin (Sione's Wedding, Spin Doctors, Serial Killers) and Rachel Lang (Mercy Peak), Outrageous Fortune won 6 awards at the 2005 Qantas TV Awards, including Best Drama Series; Best Actress (Robyn Malcolm as Cheryl West) and Best Actor (Antony Starr as Jethro and Van West).

Outrageous Fortune (series two) is available on DVD at all good DVD outlets. Distributed by Roadshow Entertainment.

AWARDS

2007 Qantas Television Awards: Best Drama (Christmas Special); Best Actress in a TV Drama (Robyn Malcolm); Best Script (James Griffin); Best Editing (Bryan Shaw).

2007 Air New Zealand Screen Awards:
- Best Drama
- Performance by an Actress (Robyn Malcolm)
- Performance by an Actor (Antony Starr)
- Performance by a Supporting Actor (Frank Whitten)
- Drama Script (James Griffin)
- Achievement in Directing a Drama/Comedy programme (Simon Bennett).

Finalist certificate: 2007 New York Festival Television Programming & Promotion Competition: Best Editing (Drama) and Drama categories.

2006 TV GUIDE Best on the Box People's Choice Awards: Best Drama; Best Actress (Robyn Malcolm)

2006 M2 Magazine 'Best' Awards: Best TV Show

CREDITS

CAST

CHERYL WEST ROBYN MALCOLM
WOLFGANG WEST GRANT BOWLER
VAN WEST ANTONY STARR
JETHRO WEST ANTONY STARR
PASCALLE WEST SIOBHAN MARSHALL
LORETTA WEST ANTONIA PREBBLE
'GRANDPA' TED WEST FRANK WHITTEN

REGULAR GUEST CAST

ERIC BRIAN SERGENT
MUNTER TAMMY DAVIS
WAYNE JUDD KIRK TORRENCE
HAYDEN SHANE CORTESE
AURORA CLAIRE CHITHAM

EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS JOHN BARNETT, SIMON BENNETT, JAMES GRIFFIN, RACHEL LANG
WRITERS JAMES GRIFFIN, RACHEL LANG, TIM BALME, JAN PRETTEJOHNS, NICK WARD, MICHAEL BENNETT, GAVIN STRAWHAN, KATE McDERMOTT

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