The Hollowmen

The Hollowmen is an Australian television comedy series set in the offices of the Central Policy Unit, a fictional political advisory unit personally set up by the Prime Minister to help him get re-elected. Their brief is long-term vision; to stop worrying about tomorrow's headlines, and focus on next week's.

The Hollowmen
The Hollowmen (DVD cover)
Genre	Situation comedy-Drama
Created by	Santo Cilauro Tom Gleisner Rob Sitch
Directed by	Rob Sitch
Opening theme	"North by North" by The Bats
Country of origin	Australia
Original language	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	12
Production
Executive producer	Working Dog Productions
Producers	Santo Cilauro Tom Gleisner Rob Sitch
Production company	Working Dog Productions
Release
Original network	ABC1
Audio format	Stereo
First shown in	Australia
Original release	July 2008 – October 2008
External links
Website

The Hollowmen was first broadcast on Wednesday, 9 July 2008, on ABC1. Each series comprises six half-hour episodes.[1] On the eve of the first episode's national premiere, the series was approved by the ABC for a second series. The second series was screened right after the first, beginning on 13 September 2008.[2]

The comedy-drama satire is produced by Working Dog Productions, which was also responsible for Frontline, The Panel, Thank God You're Here and Utopia. The music used during the opening credits is an edited instrumental version of the 1987 song "North by North" by New Zealand band The Bats. A special one-off presentation of The Hollowmen was created by Working Dog and played at Parliament House in Canberra on 11 March 2009, in support of the ABC's funding bid for 2009–12.

Cast

Main cast

• Rob Sitch – Tony, the Prime Minister's Principal Private Secretary
• Lachy Hulme – David 'Murph' Murphy, Senior Political Advisor and Director of the Central Policy Unit
• Merrick Watts – Nick, Senior Political Advisor
• Neil Melville – Ian, the Prime Minister's Chief of Staff
• David James – Phillip, Secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
• Stephen Hall – Warren, Departmental Under-Secretary
• Jacquie Brennan – Mel, Senior Media Advisor
• Santo Cilauro – Theo Tsolakis, Head of Market Research
• Nicola Parry – Holly, Unit Office Manager

Supporting cast

• Rob Carlton – Kenny Pratt, advisor to the previous PM
• Graeme Blundell – Geoff, Party Director
• Leonie Hemsworth – Dianne, Prime Minister's Secretary
• Sacha Joseph – Vanmathy, Unit Office
• Ben Chisholm – Josh, Unit Office
• Sarah Arthur Young – Sarah, Unit Office Receptionist
• Phil Pollard – Phil, Prime Minister's Security Guard

The Prime Minister is an unseen character.

Series overview

Season		Episodes		Originally aired
				First aired	Last aired
	1	6		9 July 2008	27 August 2008
	2	6		3 September 2008	8 October 2008

Episodes

Series 1

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date
1	1	"Fat Chance"	Rob Sitch	Santo Cilauro Tom Gleisner Rob Sitch	9 July 2008
The Central Policy Unit must come up with a meaningful plan to combat obesity in schools in order to keep the Prime Minister's momentum rolling.
2	2	"The Ambassador"	Rob Sitch	Santo Cilauro Tom Gleisner Rob Sitch	16 July 2008
A troublesome Senator agrees to leave politics behind if he gets a nice diplomatic posting. But, unfortunately for the Central Policy Unit, Phillip is about to give a speech outlining a plan commissioned by the PM announcing restrictions that mean only the most qualified people are eligible for appointment as ambassadors for the nation.
3	3	"A Time for Talk"	Rob Sitch	Santo Cilauro Tom Gleisner Rob Sitch	23 August 2008
When conflict breaks out overseas, the Central Policy Unit must find a way to intervene without hurting the international relationships. Murph quickly finds that there is a lot of talk, but not much action.
4	4	"Rear Vision"	Rob Sitch	Santo Cilauro Tom Gleisner Rob Sitch	30 July 2008
The budget lacks an eye-catching "centrepiece" and Tony asks Murph to come up with a last minute policy which will give the PM the visionary public image he wants.
5	5	"Military Matters"	Rob Sitch	Santo Cilauro Tom Gleisner Rob Sitch	6 August 2008
After an embarrassing incident at an air force base brings military recruitment into the headlines, the Central Policy Unit must make life in the uniform appealing to Generation Y.
6	6	"A Housing Crisis"	Rob Sitch	Santo Cilauro Tom Gleisner Rob Sitch	27 August 2008
A report into the cost of maintaining Kirribilli House comes back to bite Ian. With Phillip in charge, the report looks set to embarrass the PM right before another interest rate rise, unless Murph can figure out a way to lower Kirribilli's price tag and make it less elitist.

Series 2

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date
7	1	"Shared Interests"	Rob Sitch	Santo Cilauro Tom Gleisner Rob Sitch	3 September 2008
A scandal with a Junior Minister and poor fashion sense leads to a "blippy dip" in the PM's public image. Murph handles a government crackdown whilst Tony tackles pin-stripes and French cuffs.
8	2	"Edifice Complex"	Rob Sitch	Santo Cilauro Tom Gleisner Rob Sitch	10 September 2008
The PM has recently opened several buildings commissioned by his predecessors, which starts him thinking about his own legacy. Unfortunately for Murph, legacy translates to a massive building somewhere in the parliamentary triangle.
9	3	"Wonder Drug"	Rob Sitch	Santo Cilauro Tom Gleisner Rob Sitch	17 September 2008
Pressure mounts on the Government to fund an expensive new pill, despite evidence that it may not be worth funding at all.
10	4	"Vulnerable to Attack"	Rob Sitch	Santo Cilauro Tom Gleisner Rob Sitch	24 September 2008
The PM's plans to increase spending on national security run into trouble when the Department starts talking about cost-cutting. Meanwhile the Unit ends up exploiting some eager High School students who have won a trip to Canberra.
11	5	"A Waste of Energy"	Rob Sitch	Santo Cilauro Tom Gleisner Rob Sitch	1 October 2008
Global warming is hot on the agenda with the Unit taking up the government's new 'carbon challenge'. But a blindsighted promise to raise emission standards with China may cause some serious problems for international relations.
12	6	"A Quiet January"	Rob Sitch	Santo Cilauro Tom Gleisner Rob Sitch	8 October 2008
The second half of January has no news stories. But a surprise trip for the PM to Antarctica is soon devised to fill this space.

Episode ratings

The first season premiered at 9:30 pm on Wednesday 9 July 2008. After episode 5, it was removed from schedule due to the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The season finale aired at 9:00 pm on Wednesday 27 August.[3]

#	Episode No.	Airdate	Time	Ratings (5 capital cities)	Timeslot rank	Overall nightly rank
1.01	Fat Chance	9 July 2008	Wednesday 9:30pm	1,185,000	1st	13th
1.02	The Ambassador	16 July 2008		1,040,000	2nd	16th
1.03	A Time for Talk	23 July 2008		950,000	3rd	18th
1.04	Rear Vision	30 July 2008		996,000	2nd	16th
1.05	Military Matters	6 August 2008		816,000	3rd	24th
1.06	A Housing Crisis	27 August 2008	Wednesday 9:00pm	926,000	2nd	15th
2.01	Shared Interests	3 September 2008		931,000	2nd	17th
2.02	Edifice Complex	10 September 2008		1,044,000	2nd	16th
2.03	Wonder Drug	17 September 2008		941,000	3rd	19th
2.04	Vulnerable to Attack	24 September 2008		906,000	3rd	15th
2.05	A Waste of Energy	1 October 2008		877,000	3rd	16th
2.06	A Quiet January	8 October 2008		931,000	3rd	16th

Production

It was partially inspired by Cilauro's 1996 documentary The Campaign about Paul Keating's failed election. They initially wanted to make a series about an independent politician, but decided that such people didn't really hold much power and wanted the explore the idea that politics is run like a corporation.[4]

Reception

Debi Enker from the Sydney Morning Herald described the first episode of The Hollowmen as using "low-key style [and] sandpaper-dry wit" to show the hollowness of the political newscycle.[5]

Opposition leader Tony Abbott used its premiere to criticise the government, claiming that the "Howard government didn't work like that", and that the series would not have made sense under a Liberal government.[6]

It won the 2009 Logie for Most Outstanding Comedy Program.[7][8]

Accuracy

In 2008 the Sydney Morning Herald interviewed political advisors about the accuracy of the show. Political advisors noted that the characters were more cynical and amoral that they and their colleagues, and played to people's prejudices, but a few conceded that they knew people like Rob Sitch's character, Tony. They found that pollsters were portrayed as having too much power in the show, and noted that senior public servants were not as innocent as they were portrayed.

In contrast they found larger themes of media driven policies, "arse-covering" and superficial treatment of complex issues were "remarkably accurate", noting that the Melbourne 2am Lockout laws were a good example.[9]

Home media

Series 1 and 2 of The Hollowmen is available on DVD as a three disc box set.[10]

See also

• List of Australian television series
• List of Australian Broadcasting Corporation programs
• The Thick of It
• The Hollow Men
• Frontline
• The West Wing
• Absolute Power
• K Street
• Utopia

References

1. "Working Dog starts rounding up the Hollowmen". 8 June 2008.
2. "New Tom Gleisner TV show The Hollowmen a hit unseen". The Daily Telegraph. 9 July 2008.
3. Knox, David (3 August 2008). "Bumped: The Hollowmen". Retrieved 5 August 2008.
4. Michael Idato (7 July 2008). "Capital punishment". The Sydney Morning Herald.
5. Enker, Debi (8 July 2008). "The Hollowmen". The Sydney Morning Herald.
6. Dart, Jonathan (11 July 2008). "Hollowmen are Rudd's men:Abbott". The Sydney Morning Herald.
7. "2009 Logies: The winners". The Sydney Morning Herald. 3 May 2009.
8. "Hollowmen takes top comedy Logie". ABC News. 3 May 2009.
9. Fyfe, Melissa; Gordon, Josh (17 August 2008). "Hollow truths". The Sydney Morning Herald.
10. "Roadshow Entertainment catalogue listing".

External links

• The Hollowmen official website (ABC TV)
• The Hollowmen at IMDb
• The Hollowmen at TV.com