Radha Mitchell and Jesse Spencer play Judy and Tony Bissett respectively. (Photo credit: Disney+)
Suburban Perth, 1979. A world beauty pageant is about to take place in the city, while America’s first space station, Skylab, slowly falls from orbit.
Fast facts about Last Days of the Space Age
What: A psychedelic fusion of 70s dead-end drama and the possible impending end of the world
Director: Bharat Nalluri / Rachel Ward / Clive Stenders
Starring: Radha Mitchell, Jesse Spencer, Deborah Mailman, Emily Grant, Mackenzie Mazur, Iain Glen, Thomas Weatherall, Aidan Du Qim, Sam Dredge
When: Available now on Disney
How you might feel: Missing cheese and pineapple sticks
That’s what’s going on in Disney+’s new series, The Last Days of the Space Age.
The series, which is actually filmed somewhere between Sydney and Wollongong, stars beloved Australian actors Radha Mitchell and Jesse Spencer as (mostly) loving couple Judy and Tony Bissett.
While the city’s focus is on the sky, Judy and Tony are concerned with more mundane details, like preventing the local power station from shutting down, keeping them fed, or getting their teenage daughters Tilly (Mackenzie Mazur, Moja Vesna) and Mia (Emily Grant, RFDS) to school on time.
Filming in a suburban cul-de-sac filled with family drama is nothing new for the duo, with both Mitchell and Spencer joining the cast of the much-loved Australian soap Neighbours in 1994. Was it a little strange returning to a location similar to Ramsay Street?
“It’s kind of like a memory,” said Spencer, the star of “Chicago Fire” and “House M.D.
Things are changing quickly for the Bissett family: Judy, Tilly, Mia and Tony. (Image credit: Disney+)
But for Blueback’s star Mitchell, who shot to fame with Emma-Kate Croghan’s romantic comedy Love and Other Disasters, set at Melbourne university, the film is more reminiscent of 1970s psychedelia.
“It’s like traveling through time, and that’s very appealing to me,” she said. “Going back to that magical childhood and playing the role of my mom.”
The production values of the show are stunning, from the wooden sets to Nina Edwards’ period costumes. The day we meet at Melbourne’s Royce Hotel, Mitchell is wearing a 70s-style outfit: a mustard sweater with a brown snakeskin-style leather skirt, accessorized with a chunky gold necklace.
Spencer, who plays neighborhood favorite Billy Kennedy, wore tan jeans, a white T-shirt and a dark grey bomber jacket.
Skylab’s spectacular demise
This photo shows an oxygen tank from the Skylab space station that crashed over Western Australia in 1979.
In 1979, NASA’s Skylab space station crashed near the sleepy town of Esperance in Western Australia. Forty years later, the sonic boom still echoes.
“I’ve always loved watching period dramas, and they’re fun to act in,” he said. “You get to be in these characters through the costumes, the sets, the cars, all of which add to your performance and make it very, very fun to act in.”
A lot of research was done to recreate that era. “Every scene, every costume has a story, you can’t ignore them because they are so carefully thought out,” Mitchell said.
That even included the food on offer. Spencer giggled over the Coronation Chicken Sandwich and Fairy Bread, but Mitchell thought she had the best retro feast.
“You didn’t come to the girls’ cocktail party,” she said with a laugh. “We stuck little cheese sticks in pineapples, straight out of Woman’s Day.”
Like Neighbors, each family living in the cul-de-sac has their own ups and downs, whether it’s Tilly’s best friend Jono (newcomer Aidan Duchim) giving up on his dream of becoming an astronaut, or next-door neighbor Irene Wilberforce, played by Total Control star Deborah Mailman, struggling to hold down a teaching job while taking care of her activist nephew Villa (Heartbreak High actor Thomas Weatherall).
Erin struggles to keep Bilia safe while also keeping her job. (Image credit: Disney+)
Mitchell enjoyed interacting with Game of Thrones star Iain Glen, who plays Judy’s Scottish father Bob.
She said: “He is great. Although he is not much older than me, he is very loving.
“He plays a rock n’ roll grandpa, a surfer with a secret love affair. There’s a lot going on on our street.”
Working couple
Mitchell and Spencer’s easy friendship is well-established in the series – Judy and Tony make for a very enjoyable pair. But their friendship is tested after a startling opening sequence, in which Judy is nearly crushed by a brick thrown through a car window.
The factory workers are on strike and Toni is on the picket line, where they view her as a saboteur in their negotiations with Wayne Durr (Sam Dredge), the dastardly son of the boss).
Iain Glen, best known for his role as Jorah Mormont in Game of Thrones, brings his acting prowess to bear in the role of family patriarch Bob. (Image credit: Disney+)
Soon, the status quo was overturned.
“It’s a super good 9 to 5,” Mitchell said, referring to the American comedy starring Dolly Parton, Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin. “It’s shot in a very humorous way, but the subject matter is very serious, and the couple handled it with great grace.”
The play was acutely aware of the rapid changes taking place in society at the time, and what follows is jaw-dropping.
“We’re dealing with human dynamics, and there’s also this sense of change that’s unfolding,” Mitchell said.
“Even though it’s set in the 70s, it’s still very relevant. We have new words now that we didn’t use five years ago. The culture is constantly evolving.”
Reflecting Australia
Spencer and Mitchell were well mentored by Rachel Ward (Palm Beach), Cliff Standers (Red Dog) and Bharat Nalluri (Boy Swallow Universe), who also directed the opening episode.
“When we were rehearsing the brick scene, Barratt started talking about how it was a metaphor for so much more,” Spencer recalled. “When he was done rehearsing, we said, ‘Man, you should be in front of the camera.’ He could see the lighter elements, the quirky stuff, and the things that were universal and profound.”
Linh-Dan Pham and Vico Thai play Sandy and Lam Bui in “Space Age of Destruction”. (Source: Disney+)
They all think working in Australia is a pleasure.
“We’ve been to a lot of different places, but we’ve always paid attention to what’s going on in our hometown,” Spencer said.
Mitchell added: “It feels good to be back with my extended family and do something that’s relevant to them. It’s an exciting place to be for storytelling. We’re very artistic in our storytelling. It’s intimate and honest because we have such a culture.”
Although set in the 1970s, The Last Days of Space Age brings the present to life, thanks to a team of writers that includes creator David Chidlow, Dr. Dot West, Alice Addison, Alan Nguyen and Jeremy Nguyen.
“There’s a lot of goodwill in the story without being overly cynical,” Mitchell said.
“It’s reflecting on what it means to be Australian, what we’ve taken for granted historically and what parts of it need to be revisited. How we collectively identify, and that sense of community.”
That’s when good neighbors become good friends.
The Last Days of the Space Age is currently streaming on Disney.
