has reviewed the Dalliance TV show, and Hugo Weaving leads it as Billy, a retired cameraman. The six-part Australian drama is built around older friends in their 60s, which is a leaner, less usual lane for TV drama than the younger-skewing stuff that fills most schedules.
It is the writing that carries the piece. The review credits Dalliance to Pip Karmel, Chris Lee, Liz Doran and Jock Serong, with Emma Jackon and Matt Saville directing, and it places Billy at the center as the warm catalyst who pulls an old circle back into view.
Heather Mitchell and Billy and Dani
Heather Mitchell plays Dani, and her first encounter with Billy sets the series in motion. He hides under one of the tables she is catering on a ferry at a sailing event in Sydney Harbour, then later places a bet for her on the next boat race before taking her back to his place to meet Rose.
That meeting also gives the series its cleanest domestic test. Rose asks Dani, “No sex?” and Dani answers, “God no,” before Rose agrees Dani can borrow Billy as her plus-one for a forthcoming event. The exchange is small, but it shows how Dalliance builds its drama from manners, trust and long memory rather than noise.
Gary, Rose and the older circle
David Wenham plays Gary, Billy’s brother, and the review complicates Billy as more than a genial connector by calling Gary a jailbird and addict. Gary’s own line — “Chalk and cheese,” followed by “If chalk hated cheese’s guts.” — sharpens the contrast between the brothers and keeps the series from drifting into soft nostalgia.
Georgie Parker plays Rose, while Russell Dykstra, Kirk Torrance, Wayne Blair, Catherine McClements and Carolyn Bock fill out the older circle around Billy, Rex, Mani, Luke, Sarah and Adele. Adele has been married to Luke for 34 years, a detail that gives the series its long-horizon feel; this is a drama about relationships that have already survived decades, not just the latest crisis.
What Dalliance sets up
The series uses flashbacks through the remainder of the episodes, so the shape of the story is already clear: one meeting, then the history that keeps spilling out around it. For viewers who want a drama built on older characters, family friction and the residue of old friendships, Dalliance looks like the rare six-part TV run that treats those lives as the main event rather than the sidelines.
What happens at Dani’s forthcoming event is still the open hinge in the story, and that is where the series is likely to cash in the promise of Billy’s invitation. For now, the review makes the case plainly: this is one to watch because it writes for grown-ups without talking down to them.
