Tangle (TV series)

Tangle
Current intertitle for Tangle.
Genre	Drama
Created by	John Edwards Imogen Banks Fiona Seres
Written by	Fiona Seres Tony McNamara Judi McCrossin
Directed by	Jessica Hobbs Matthew Saville Stuart McDonald Emma Freeman Michael James Rowland
Starring	Justine Clarke Ben Mendelsohn Catherine McClements Matt Day Kat Stewart Joel Tobeck Don Hany Eva Lazzaro Blake Davis Lincoln Younes Kick Gurry
Theme music composer	Bryony Marks
Country of origin	Australia
Original language	English
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	22 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Hugh Marks (Southern Star) Kim Vecera (Showtime)
Producers	John Edwards Imogen Banks
Production locations	Melbourne Kew, Abbotsford, Collins Street, Melbourne
Editors	Steve Evans Peter Carrodus
Running time	50–55 minutes
Production company	Southern Star
Original release
Network	Showcase
Release	1 October 2009 (2009-10-01) – 29 April 2012 (2012-04-29)

Tangle is an Australian drama series for the Showcase subscription television channel. It focuses on the tangled lives of two generations of two families. ^[1] Tangle was filmed in Melbourne and first screened on 1 October 2009. ^{[2] [3]} It is written by Fiona Seres, Tony McNamara and Judi McCrossin, and directed by Jessica Hobbs, Matthew Saville and Stuart McDonald. ^[4] There were three seasons.

Plot

See also: List of Tangle episodes

Season 1

Tangle revolves around the intertwined lives of the Kovac and Williams families and their network of friends and extended family in and around Kew in Melbourne. Nat Manning (Kat Stewart) returned to her home town of Melbourne after ten years in the United Kingdom on the minor celebrity circuit. She created ripples and then waves in the lives of two clans already struggling under the weight of their myriad secrets. Ally (Justine Clarke) is the devoted wife of an aggressive and arrogant builder Vince (Ben Mendelsohn), mother of Romeo and Gigi (Lincoln Younes and Eva Lazarro), who is happy to have her sister Nat back. Politician Tim (Joel Tobeck), now a rising star in the State Parliament of Victoria, had an affair 15 years ago with Nat, and as a result, Nat became pregnant and gave birth to Max, now 15. Tim and his wife Christine (Catherine McClements) patched up their marriage and successfully fought for custody of Max (Blake Davis) and do not welcome her return to their lives. Meanwhile Ally’s husband Vince is having a torrid affair with divorcee Em, and his friend, a doctor Gabriel (Matt Day) has a secret lust for Ally. Gigi finally informs her mum Ally of Vince's affair, which had become an open secret due to numerous slipups by Vince. Ally confronts Vince in the Windsor Hotel. Vince tries to patch up his relationship with his family. A major property deal on a hospital site had been scuppered by Tim, and he had lost his friendship with Gabriel after the latter declared his love for Ally. Vince is unexpectedly killed in a random auto accident at the end of the series, leaving a cliffhanger.

Meanwhile, the older children, who all attend the same school in Melbourne's affluent Eastern Suburbs, are bound together when Max finds the dead body of a runner, who we see stumbling off the road at Yarra Bend in Melbourne and fatally hitting his head. Rather than report the death to the police, Max texts a photo to his friends, and they take the man's wallet and keys. Romeo and his friend, also the son of a state politician, cut off one of the man's fingers as a trophy, and Romeo hides it. His little sister finds it, informs on her brother, thus implicating the parents in the coverup. The friends, egged on mainly by Romeo, locate and visit his house (where he lived alone) over several nights, until they are found there by the police and heavily questioned and cautioned. A scandal is not what parent Tim needs, as he becomes a prominent public figure as State Minister for Health (he displaces a predecessor and terminally ill friend Pat, who commits suicide). The teenagers suffer less major setbacks in the second half of the series, which focuses on Max's growing relationship with his mother, Nat, the discovery of teen sex and young love, and how to deal with their parents whose lives are falling apart.

Season 2

With Vince now gone, Vince’s secretive brother Joe Kovac (Kick Gurry) returns hoping to become a part of a family he was never allowed into. Spiros Georgiades (Don Hany) is recruited by the party as a political adviser to Tim, and develops an attraction to Christine. Tim makes a bid for the top job of Premier, but is sidelined and then kicked out of the party after a press conference where he is too honest about the actions of his colleagues. He takes an offered executive job in Singapore to 'lay low' for a while. Ally and her children, Romeo and Gigi, appear in a new house in Bayside. Nat meets a young, successful man and Gabriel's new but short-lived girlfriend Sophie looks a lot like Ally (according to Nat).

Season 3

Ally sheds some of love's illusions and begins to see life possibilities beyond her family and Gabriel. Both Romeo and Gigi need her less than she'd imagined, but in different ways, as they build their own lives. When Max moves away to stay with his biological mother Nat (and her sister, Ally), Christine flirts with a parallel life at odds with all previous certainties. Gabriel and Ally finally get together. Nat reconnects with the sinister Michael Chubbievsky, a suspected drug dealer. Nat's chaos is the one constant. ^[5]

Cast

Main cast

Actor	Role	First Episode	Last Episode
Justine Clarke	Ally Kovac	1.01	3.06
Kat Stewart	Nat Manning	1.01	3.06
Catherine McClements	Christine Williams	1.01	3.06
Joel Tobeck	Tim Williams	1.01	3.06
Matt Day	Gabriel Lucas	1.02	3.06
Don Hany	Spiros Georgiades	2.01	3.06
Blake Davis	Max Williams	1.01	3.06
Lincoln Younes	Romeo Kovac	1.01	3.06
Eva Lazzaro	Gigi Kovac	1.01	3.06
Georgia Flood	Charlotte Barker	1.01	3.06
Kick Gurry	Joe Kovac	2.01	3.06
Ben Mendelsohn	Vince Kovac	1.01	1.10
Lucia Mastrantone	Em Barker	1.01	1.09

Supporting cast

• Tony Rickards – Billy Hall
• Jane Allsop – Tanya Hicks
• Lucia Emmerichs – Ophelia Hicks
• Reef Ireland – Ned Dougherty
• Madeleine Jay – Kelly
• Alison Whyte – Nicky Barnham
• Maude Davey – Agatha

Season 1

• John Brumpton – Bryan Dougherty
• Frank Gallacher – Pat Mahady
• Alicia Banit – Leah
• Simon Maiden – Stan/Voice of Yuri

Season 2

• Adam Zwar – Huey Moss
• Leah Vandenberg – Elle Rosenthal
• Todd MacDonald – Paul
• Tim Draxl – Conrad
• Fiona Harris – Sophie
• Ryan Corr – Isaac

Season 3

• Dan Wyllie – Michael Chubievsky
• Michael Clarke-Tokely – Luke Wintle
• Elle Mandalis – Miss Papas
• Nicholas Bell – Sean Roscoe
• Ben Schumann – Harvey

Notable guest cast

• Luke Hemsworth – John (2 episodes, 2009)
• Kate Jenkinson – Melanie (5 episodes, 2009–12)
• Lliam Amor – Robert Barker (2 episodes, 2009)
• Tony Nikolakopoulos – Gordon (3 episodes, 2009–10)
• Richard Sutherland – Jason (1 episode, 2009)
• Marta Kaczmarek – Psychic (1 episode, 2010)
• Alin Sumarwata – Julie (1 episode, 2010)
• Kevin Harrington – Ian (1 episode, 2012)
• John Flaus – Cemetery Keeper (1 episode, 2012)
• Jason Agius - Romeo Fighter Mate (1 episode, 2012)

Production

Showcase renewed Tangle for a third series on 12 December 2010 and production began in June 2011, ending in August.

Tangle is filmed in and around the city of Melbourne, usually set within the more affluent suburbs of the city. The new house in which Ally and her children move to in season three is in Black Rock, and Tim and Christine's house is in Kew. Some other locations that have been used to film throughout the series are:

• Studley Park
• Yarra Bend Park
• Prahran
• Abbotsford Convent
• Parliament House
• Hotel Windsor, Melbourne
• Spring Street
• Carlton
• Abbotsford
• North Melbourne
• Malvern East (Ally's house in Series 1)
• Camberwell (Nazareth House, Cornell St Camberwell - Romeo's school)

Broadcast

Tangle was rerun on Foxtel's SoHo in Australia. ^[6] In the Republic of Ireland, the series was broadcast on RTÉ Two. It was shown in numerous countries throughout the Asia–Pacific on Australia Network. In New Zealand, it was broadcast on TV One. In Poland, it was screened on Viacom Blink!. In Canada, it was aired on Super Channel.

The series was never broadcast in the United Kingdom, but did however become available to stream on Amazon Prime Video from 5 April 2019. ^[7] It is also available to stream on Scottish service STV Player which is accessible throughout the UK. ^[8] The series is also available to stream via Amazon Prime Video in the United States, ^[9] It began streaming on Netflix in Australia on 7 June 2021. ^[10]

DVD Releases

DVD title	Date Released	No. of Discs	ACB rating	Runtime	Distributor
Series 1	15 April 2010 [11]	3	M	534 minutes	Roadshow Entertainment
Series 2	18 November 2010 [12]	2	MA15+	303 minutes
Series 3	3 October 2012 [13]	2	MA15+	317 minutes
Series 1–3	5 December 2012 [14]	7	MA15+	1154 minutes
Seasons 1–3(repackaged)	21 April 2021 [15]	7	MA15+	1154 minutes	Via Vision

Awards and nominations

Year	Category	Nominee(s)	Result	Ref(s)
AACTA Awards
2010	Best Lead Actress in a Television Drama	Catherine McClements	Won	[16]
	Best Lead Actress in a Television Drama	Justine Clarke	Nominated
	Best Television Drama Series	Tangle (Season 2)	Nominated
	Best Screenplay in Television	Fiona Seres (for 2x5)	Nominated
	Best Direction in Television	Emma Freeman (for 2x6)	Nominated
2013	Best Television Drama Series	Tangle (season 3)	Nominated	[17]
ASTRA Awards
2010	Most Outstanding Drama	Tangle (Season 1)	Nominated	[18]
	Most Outstanding Performance by an Actor: Male	Ben Mendelsohn	Won
	Most Outstanding Performance by an Actor: Female	Justine Clarke	Won
	Most Outstanding Performance by an Actor: Male	Matt Day	Nominated
	Most Outstanding Performance by an Actor: Female	Catherine McClements	Nominated
	Best New Talent	Eva Lazzaro	Nominated
2011	Most Outstanding Drama	Tangle (Season 2)	Nominated	[19] [20]
	Most Outstanding Performance By An Actor: Male	Don Hany	Nominated
	Most Outstanding Performance by an Actor: Female	Justine Clarke	Nominated
	Most Outstanding Performance by an Actor: Female	Catherine McClements	Won
2013	Most Outstanding Drama	Tangle (Season 3)	Won	[21]
	Most Outstanding Performance By An Actor: Male	Lincoln Younes	Won
	Most Outstanding Performance By An Actor: Male	Dan Wyllie	Nominated
	Most Outstanding Performance By An Actor: Female	Justine Clarke	Nominated
	Most Outstanding Performance By An Actor: Female	Catherine McClements	Won
	Most Outstanding Performance By An Actor: Female	Eva Lazzaro	Nominated
Australian Director' Guild Awards
2010	Best Direction in a Television Drama Series	Stuart McDonald (for 1x9)	Won	[22]
IF Awards
2010	"Out of the Box" Award	Eva Lazzaro	Nominated
2011	"Out of the Box" Award	Blake Davis	Nominated
Logie Awards
2010	Most Outstanding Drama Series, Miniseries or Telemovie	Tangle (Season 1)	Nominated	[23]
	Most Outstanding Actor	Ben Mendelsohn	Nominated
	Most Outstanding Actress	Justine Clarke	Nominated
	Most Outstanding New Talent	Eva Lazzaro	Nominated
2011	Most Outstanding Actress	Justine Clarke	Nominated	[24]
	Most Popular Actor	Don Hany (also for Offspring )	Nominated
2013	Most Outstanding Drama Series	Tangle (Season 3)	Nominated	[25]
	Most Outstanding Actress	Catherine McClements	Nominated
NSW Premier's Literary Awards
2010	Script Writing	Fiona Seres (for 1x1)	Nominated
Screen Music Awards
2010	Best Television Theme	Bryony Marks	Nominated
	Best Music in a Television Series or Serial	Bryony Marks (for 1x1)	Nominated
2011	Best Music in a Television Series or Serial	Bryony Marks (for 2x6)	Nominated

References

1. Knox, David (24 July 2008). "Star cast ready to Tangle". tvtonight.com.au. Retrieved 24 July 2008.
2. Premieres on Showcase MCN
3. Airdate: Tangle TV Tonight
4. Knox, David (26 June 2008). "New Aussie drama series for Showtime". tvtonight.com.au. Retrieved 24 July 2008.
5. Season Three Showtime
6. http://sohotv.com.au/whats-on/series/55/tangle
7. "Tangle - Season 1". amzprime.maft.uk. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
8. "Tangle". player.stv.tv . Retrieved 7 April 2022.
9. "Tangle - Season 1". Amazon. Retrieved 28 September 2019.
10. "Great news! "Tangle" is available to watch on Netflix in Australia!". anz.newonnetflix.info. Retrieved 20 January 2024.
11. Tangle - Series 1 . Retrieved 27 June 2021– via Booktopia.
12. Tangle Series 2 . Retrieved 27 June 2021– via Booktopia.
13. Tangle Series 3 . Retrieved 27 June 2021– via Booktopia.
14. Tangle The Complete Series 1 - 3 (7 Discs) . Retrieved 27 June 2021– via Booktopia.
15. Tangle Seasons 1-3 . Retrieved 27 June 2021– via Booktopia.
16. "AACTA Awards 2010". aacta.org . Retrieved 27 June 2021.
17. Goodacre, Kate (4 December 2012). "AACTA Awards 2013 nominees: The Voice Australia, The Sapphires, more". digitalspy.com . Retrieved 27 June 2021.
18. Knox, David (14 May 2010). "ASTRA Awards 2010: Nominees" . Retrieved 27 June 2021.
19. Knox, David (30 May 2011). "ASTRA Awards 2011: Nominees" . Retrieved 27 June 2021.
20. Knox, David (22 July 2011). "LifeStyle Channel dominates 2011 ASTRA Awards" . Retrieved 27 June 2021.
21. Knox, David (29 April 2013). "ASTRA Awards 2013: Nominees" . Retrieved 27 June 2021.
22. "Australian Directors Guild unveils 2010 award winners". if.com.au. 24 September 2010. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
23. "2010 Logie Awards". australiantelevision.net. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
24. "2011 Logie Awards". australiantelevision.net. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
25. "2013 Logie Awards". australiantelevision.net. Retrieved 27 June 2021.

External links

• Tangle at IMDb
• Tangle on 7plus
• Tangle on 10Play