Aussie rules

The Australians do suburbia well. We seem to be interested in the working classes and the poor (EastEnders, Coronation Street, searing one-off dramas about sink estates), Americans like the rich (Dallas, Dynasty) and well-to-do urban folk (Frasier, Friends). But in Oz they are fascinated by the people who live in medium-size houses in leafy streets — think of Neighbours and the sublime comedy Kath and Kim, which was set in the Melbourne ’burbs. In Britain, a dramatic moment comes when someone rapes their ex-wife. In America, it’s when you manage to steal $10 million of oil shares from your brother-in-law. In Australia, it’s hitting a brat, who’s not your son, at a barbecue.

I guess it is the halfway status of the suburbs which fascinates. Australia is a tremendously egalitarian country; people who regard themselves as ‘better’ than anyone else are generally ridiculed and despised (I once heard a woman who acted grand dismissed with the remark, ‘You know what she can do with the rough end of a pineapple’). At the same time it is aspirational. People want to improve their lives without seeming to stand out from the pack. The richer an ocker is, the more down to earth he’s obliged to be. Whether this has something to do with a folk memory of convict days, when everyone started at the bottom of the pile, I have no idea.

The Melbourne suburbs are also the backdrop for The Slap, which began this week on BBC4 (Thursday). The novel it’s based on, by Christos Tsiolkas, was a huge international success. It had good, if mixed reviews. Some of the writing, particularly in the sex scenes, is dire. But it got praise for the skilful handling of racial, generational and even class conflicts in the new, multicultural Oz.