Upper Middle Bogan. 2013; 3 seasons Comedy TV14 Watchlist. Annie Maynard Bess Denyar. Robyn Nevin Margaret Denyar. Patrick Brammall Danny Bright. Upper Middle Bogan. 31,370 likes 12 talking about this. When an upper middle class woman discovers she is adopted she is shocked to find out she comes from a drag racing family in the outer suburbs.

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Upper Middle Bogan is an Australian TV sitcom on The ABC, premiering in August 2013. It stars Annie Maynard, Patrick Brammall, Glenn Robbins, Robyn Malcolm, Robyn Nevin and Michala Banas, and was created by Robyn Butler and Wayne Hope.

The series follows the story of two families living at opposite ends of the freeway. Bess Denyar is a doctor with a posh mother, Margaret, an architect husband, Danny Bright, and twin 13-year-olds at a private school, Oscar and Edwina. When Bess finds out that she is adopted, she is stunned, but even more so when she meets her birth parents, Wayne and Julie Wheeler. She also discovers that she has three siblings: Amber, Kayne and Brianna. The 'bogan' Wheelers head up a drag racing team in the outer suburbs and are thrilled to discover the daughter they thought they had lost.

Three series of eight episodes each have so far aired.

This series contains examples of:

• Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: Wayne and Julie video call their daughter's husband to check whether he is having sex with her as they suggested.
• Artistic License – Geography: Bess is seen taking the Dandenong Bypass exit on the Eastlink in the opening credits, a lower socioeconomic area of Melbourne, hardly an affluent suburb that an architect and anethetist would be living in, especially the house they live in.
• Be a Whore to Get Your Man: Edwina considers this with her crush BJ, buying a new wardrobe with Amber's help, before being persuaded to dress as she normally would to see whether he's even worth her attention. He isn't.
• Berserk Button: Margaret didn't mind that her husband was having an affair. She was extremely angry that he wouldn't call Bess to thank her for their anniversary gift.

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• Blue Blood: Margaret tries to convince people that she's descended from nobility even though her family were among the first convicts sent to Australia. She's eventually told that the truth actually makes her an Australian blue blood and that a lot of people go to great lengths to pretend that they're from original convict stock. The Wheeler clan, on the other hand, has actual noble blood.
• Book Dumb: Oscar. He seems to have a natural aptitude for cars, although it's implied that he can read and learn quickly as long as something interests him.
• Comically Missing the Point: Brianna mixes up the user ID on app controlled womens underwear, inadvertently causing Danny to pleasure his mother-in-law. All Brianna takes away from this is that the underwear worked properly.
• Cool, but Impractical: Danny fulfills his dream of designing and building his own house. It is a minimalist monstrosity with a brutalist interior filled with hard, uncomfortable furnishings. It takes a huge fight to make him realize that the family doesn't like it.
• Creator Cameo: Robyn Butler and Wayne Hope have both made appearances, the former as one of Bess' co-workers.
• Deadpan Snarker: Margaret and Amber.
• Distracted by the Sexy: After being rejected by her crush BJ Amenta - Shawn's drag racing rival, who turned out to be incredibly shallow - Edwina exploits this by dressing sexy and distracting him into starting a race too soon.
• Dumb Blonde: Brianna.
• Embarrassing Tattoo: Wayne has several that he got in Thailand.
• Exiled to the Couch: A variant. When Bess finds out that Danny lied to her about turning on the air conditioner despite his own (unsuccessful) efforts to cool the house without it, she exiles him to Margaret's house.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Oscar and Edwina are straight examples. Kayne/Brianna and Amber fit the bill but Amber's swearing and demeanor make it a little less clear.

• The Glorious War of Sisterly Rivalry: Julie and her sister Susan, who she never even mentioned to her family in over 30 years. It transpires that their relationship fell apart after Julie had Bess adopted out.
• High-School Sweethearts: Wayne and Julie.
• Hypocrite: Bess criticizes a school for looking down on the Wheelers lack of education but when her son says he wants to leave school in Year 10 to be a mechanic she says that 'I wasn't talking about us, I was talking about them'. She immediately realises how that sounds and tries to make it up to him.
• Hypochondria: Bess is constantly worried that she's suffering from one horrific malady or another, not helped by the fact that she's a doctor who has to deal with sick people. Danny is constantly trying to assure her that she doesn't have a chronic disorder that will result in a painful death.
• Insistent Terminology: Margaret insists that the school construction project is a cloister.
  Amber: By the way, I had a look, it's just a bloody walkway.
• Mistaken for Cheating: Danny and Wayne both get this treatment. Danny because his wife is having abandonment issues, Wayne because of a 'Fawlty Towers' Plot put in motion by a cracked tooth.
• Mistaken for Gay: After Bess brings both Margaret and Julie to a Mothers Day function, they get mistaken for a lesbian couple. Rather than explain the adoption situation, Julie and eventually Margaret decide to go along with it to help Bess's chances with an application.
• My Beloved Smother: Too say that Margaret was an over-protective mother would be to say that the Pacific Ocean is wet. Bess had to wear floaties to swim even as a teenager.
• Oblivious Adoption: Bess wasn't told until she was in her late thirties, and there's no indication that Margaret would have told her if Bess hadn't suddenly found out their blood types were incompatible. Bess remains resentful about it for much of the first season.
• Odd Friendship: The snobby Margaret and coarse Amber form a fairly close bond over the course of the show, making Bess jealous. Also applies to Margaret and Brianna after she becomes her personal trainer
• Safety Worst: Margaret was this kind of parent during Bess' childhood. Julie calls her out on it, but Margaret argues that the woman who gave her away has no right to judge her.
• Seven Minute Lull: When Amber and Brianna try to tell Kayne about Bess's trip to New York for Christmas, they have to yell it at him over the sound of a neighbouring house's Christmas lights display. Naturally, it cuts out at the worst possible moment and Julie finds out.
• Sir Swears-a-Lot: Amber, who can't seem to switch it off, even when talking to a private school board.
• Slobs vs. Snobs: The Wheelers vs. Margaret Denyar respectively, with Bess in the middle and trying to make them get along, with at least some degree of success.
• The Talk: After an embarrassing sex ed talk at Oscar and Edwina's school their parents offer to answer any questions they have, Edwina is not interested but Oscar is very enthusiastic which makes his parents uncomfortable. In a later episode Edwina asks her mother the age at which she first had sex but has already decided that the reason for her aunt's marriage problems was having sex too early, before they were emotionally ready, which delights her mother.

Upper Middle Bogan is an Australian television comedy program created by Robyn Butler and Wayne Hope. It began screening on ABC on 15 August 2013. The series is directed by Hope and Tony Martin. Upper Middle Bogan was renewed for a second series of eight episodes, which began airing from 16 October 2014.^[1] Series 3 of the show aired in 2016.

Contents

Synopsis

Upper Middle Bogan follows the story of two different families connected by blood. Bess Denyar is a doctor who lives in a nice house in an inner city suburb of Melbourne with her architect husband Danny and 13-year-old twins Oscar and Edwina. Bess is stunned when she finds out from blood test results that she is adopted. This occurs when her overbearing posh mother Margaret is admitted to the hospital for high blood sugar levels. Bess tries to meet her birth parents, Wayne and Julie Wheeler. She is shocked to learn that she has three siblings (Amber, Kayne and Brianna) and that her biological family, the 'bogan' Wheelers, head a drag racing team in the outer suburbs of the city.^[2]

Cast and characters

Main

• Annie Maynard as Bess Denyar
• Robyn Nevin as Margaret Denyar
• Patrick Brammall as Danny Bright
• Glenn Robbins as Wayne Wheeler
• Robyn Malcolm as Julie Wheeler
• Michala Banas as Amber Wheeler
• Madeleine Jevic as Brianna Wheeler
• Rhys Mitchell as Kayne Wheeler
• Harrison Feldman as Oscar Bright
• Lara Robinson as Edwina Bright
• Dougie Baldwin as Shawn Van Winkle

Recurring

• Dave Thornton as Troy Van Winkle (Amber's ex-boyfriend and Shawn's father)
• Sue Jones as Pat (Margaret's best friend)
• Khaled Khalafalla as Younis
• Martin Dingle Wall as Evan

Filming locations

The town house featured as Margaret Denyar's house in Upper Middle Bogan is located at Summerhill Road in Brighton East, Victoria.^[3] It is used to shoot both interior and exterior scenes for the series.^[3] The house was sold for $1,905,000 at an auction held on 24 May 2014.^[3][4]

The house featured as the Wheeler's House is located at 61 Saratoga Crescent in Keilor Downs, Victoria, which can be confirmed by comparing the opening scenes with Google maps earth view (see solar panels on neighbor's house). Amber's new house is at Copernicus Way. The Driving Office scenes were filmed in Gisborne, Victoria, as were the motel scenes.

The scenes with the dragster are shot at the Calder Park Raceway.

Episodes

International broadcasts

In the United States the show is titled Bess of Both Worlds and began streaming from 4 March 2015 on the subscription video-on-demand service Hulu.^[8][9] It will be remade by CBS, with contributions by Dan O'Shannon and Todd Holland.^[10] In New Zealand, the show airs Thursday nights at 10:00 pm on TV One. Episodes are available weekly to stream through TVNZ's Watch Now service.^[11]

Awards and nominations

Bess Of Both Worlds Australia

See also

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Upper Middle Bogan

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References

1. ↑ Knox, David (24 December 2013). 'Renewed: Upper Middle Bogan'. TV Tonight. Retrieved 10 November 2014.
2. ↑ 'ABC – Blogs – Upper Middle Bogan'. abc.net.au. Archived from the original on 31 October 2012. Retrieved 25 April 2017.
3. Andrews, Jon (21 May 2014). 'Brighton East townhouse featured in Upper Middle Bogan television show is up for auction'. Bayside Leader. Leader Community Newspapers. Retrieved 24 December 2014.
4. ↑ 'Sold Price for 1/16 Summerhill Road Brighton East Vic 3187'. realestate.com.au. Retrieved 24 December 2014.
5. ↑ https://shop.abc.net.au/products/upper-middle-bogan-2dvd
6. ↑ https://shop.abc.net.au/products/upper-middle-bogan-series-2-2dvd
7. ↑ http://www.sanity.com.au/products/2319896/Upper_Middle_Bogan_-_Series_1-3__Boxset
8. ↑ 'Bess of Both Worlds'. Hulu. Retrieved 11 March 2015.
9. ↑ 'Archer Season 5 & More Heading to Hulu This Month'. Broadway World. 4 March 2015. Retrieved 11 March 2015.
10. ↑ 'Upper Middle Bogan to get American makeover'. abc.net.au. 21 January 2016. Retrieved 25 April 2017.
11. ↑ 'Upper Middle Bogan'. TVNZ. Retrieved 27 June 2015.
12. ↑ Knox, David (30 January 2014). 'AACTA Awards 2013: Winners'. TV Tonight. Retrieved 16 January 2015.
13. ↑ Knox, David (27 April 2014). 'Logie Awards 2014: Winners'. TV Tonight. Retrieved 16 January 2015.
14. ↑ Knox, David (3 December 2014). 'AACTA Awards 2014: Nominations'. TV Tonight. Retrieved 16 January 2015.
15. ↑ Knox, David (22 March 2015). 'Logie Awards 2015: Nominations'. TV Tonight. Retrieved 22 March 2015.

External links

• Website on ABC
• Upper Middle Bogan at IMDb