Lucy Durack as Sophie in The Letdown.
Camera IconLucy Durack as Sophie in The Letdown. Credit: Supplied/Supplied

Lucy Durack no Letdown on ABC comedy

Tanya MacNaughtonEastern Reporter

LUCY Durack could have had no better preparation than she did for her first audition as new mum Sophie in ABC comedy The Letdown.

“I auditioned for The Letdown when my daughter Polly was three weeks old,” Perth-raised WAAPA graduate Durack said.

“My babysitter cancelled just as I was on my way out to the audition. I’d read the script and didn’t want to give it up.

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“I called my agent who said if ever it was appropriate to bring my baby, this was probably the time.

“When I got cast they asked if I wanted to bring Polly as my baby on the show.

“She was 10 weeks old when we filmed the pilot, but then too old by the time the series got picked up. She has got an IMDb credit funnily enough.”

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Lucy Durack as Sophie in The Letdown.
Camera IconLucy Durack as Sophie in The Letdown. Credit: Supplied/Supplied

Season two of The Letdown will start on May 29 and continues the highs and lows faced by new parents in a parent’s group, centred on character Audrey, played by co-creator/writer Alison Bell.

“Alison Bell and Sarah Scheller have written such beautiful episodes,” Durack said.

“The writing is just gorgeous, funny, heartfelt, poignant and heartbreaking.

“Sometimes it goes so close to the bone that it really does hurt, but it’s just so heavenly.

“My mum was at a shop awhile ago and someone told her their sister had post-natal depression and The Letdown was the first time she had laughed in months.

“That’s a really cool thing to be part of.”

Lucy Durack as Sophie in The Letdown.
Camera IconLucy Durack as Sophie in The Letdown. Credit: Supplied/Supplied

Durack said all the parents had been given a big character arc in season two, where they had to make big decisions, and the families had been fleshed out with more of the husbands and partners cast.

“It really gets inside the characters and that world in a gritty, realistic way where they certainly don’t glamorise it and almost make it unglamorous, which is great,” she said.

“It can be so isolating, especially when you first become a parent, but also along the way you can feel like you’re the only one failing at things.

“This is the show that reveals we’re all failing at things; it’s just that some people are better at hiding it than others.”

The Letdown starts on Wednesday, May 29 at 9pm on ABC and ABC iview.

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