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Richard Roxburgh

COVER STORY

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humanity to it. So you’reconstantly challenged asan audience and I thinkthat’s great.

‘‘It’s fascinating and it’sgrown up and I think Aust-ralia’s ready for it.’’

A diet of reality TV andentertainment showsflooding television net-works have left us hungryfor some clever storylines,Roxburgh says.

‘‘I think (Australianaudiences) are crying outfor drama at the moment,’’he says.

‘‘Reality TV came andlargely went, and in itsplace there’s been a realupsurge of interest in dra-ma and story again. Andparticularly smart story —I think there’s a reallysavvy audience there.’’

Roxburgh says popularshows coming out of theUS, such as Mad Men andBreaking Bad, shouldteach us that people areready for an Australiananti-hero like CleaverGreene.

‘‘We’ve felt for a longtime that Australia’s readyfor it,’’ he says.

‘‘American television inthe last ten years hasshown all of us that youcan do this so long as thecharacters are human.

‘‘The character can doall kind of contemptiblethings if you can seethrough to their humanity,if you can see throughtheir foibles.

‘‘Everybody has moralgrey areas.’’

Rake premieres on Thurs-

day, ABC1, 8.30pm