I've watched this series so many times and it still makes me laugh. Another fly on the wall faux documentary from the Working Dog team. Almost a scary look at Australian politics and how it's more about appearance than actually serving the Australian public. This should be more worrying to the viewer, but it is too spot on to not laugh. My favourite characters have to be Philip and Warren, who are totally blind to populist opinion and almost derail every headline grabbing idea the Policy Unit come up with. It's almost a Mr Burns/Smithers style relationship. There's been much criticism of the casting of Merrick Watts, but I find him to fit nicely into his role. Lachie Hulme is the much needed straight man in the picture. Seemingly the only person in the whole department with an ounce of common sense. Mel, the PM's PR queen, is always having her leash tugged, desperate to leak info to the press at any given opportunity. The real star, not surprisingly is Rob Sitch as Tony, the link between the policy unit and the PM's office. As much slapstick as he is intelligent humour, he is the central character that all others revolve around. The PM is unseen, which I think is a great move, as you can imagine him as the real thing, and it's also symbolic of the fact that none of these ideas supposedly coming from the PM are really coming from the PM.
Review of The Hollowmen
