The Hollowmen

Working Dog Productions
Industry	Television production
Headquarters	Australia
Products	Television series including The Hollowmen, Frontline, The Panel, Thank God You're Here, Utopia

The Hollowmen is a comedic television series from Australia that takes place within the Central Policy Unit, a fictional political advisory group created by the Prime Minister to concentrate on future strategic planning and election campaign management.

The series debuted on ABC1 on 9 July 2008, with each installment comprising six episodes of thirty minutes each. Prior to the first season's broadcast, ABC had already greenlit a second season, which began airing promptly on 13 September 2008.

This production comes from Working Dog Productions, the company behind shows such as Frontline, The Panel, Thank God You're Here, and Utopia. The program combines elements of humor and political satire. Its opening sequence features an instrumental segment of "North by North" performed by New Zealand's The Bats. In March 2009, a special screening took place at Parliament House in Canberra to support ABC’s funding application for the period 2009–12.

Principal

Rob Sitch portrays Tony, who serves as the Prime Minister's Principal Private Secretary
Lachy Hulme plays David 'Murph' Murphy, the Senior Political Advisor and Director of the Central Policy Unit
Merrick Watts appears as Nick, a Senior Political Advisor
Neil Melville acts as Ian, the Prime Minister's Chief of Staff
David James takes on Phillip, Secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
Stephen Hall is Warren, serving as Departmental Under-Secretary
Jacquie Brennan plays Mel, Senior Media Advisor
Santo Cilauro portrays Theo Tsolakis, Head of Market Research
Nicola Parry acts as Holly, Unit Office Manager

Supporting

Rob Carlton features as Kenny Pratt, advisor to the former Prime Minister
Graeme Blundell appears as Geoff, Party Director
Leonie Hemsworth plays Dianne, the Prime Minister’s Secretary
Sacha Joseph acts as Vanmathy in the Unit Office
Ben Chisholm portrays Josh from the Unit Office
Sarah Arthur Young is Sarah, Receptionist at the Unit Office
Phil Pollard appears as Phil, Security Guard for the Prime Minister
Brett Swain plays a Talkback Caller

Guest Appearances

Garry Who features as a Real Estate Agent

The Prime Minister character remains unseen throughout the series.

Season 1 (2008)

{{Episode table |background=#7cb1db|overall=5 |season=5 |title=20 |director=15 |writer=24 |airdate=14 |country=Australian |episodes=

Viewership Ratings

The initial season premiered at 9:30 pm on Wednesday, 9 July 2008. Following episode five, broadcasts were paused due to coverage of the 2008 Summer Olympics. The final episode was aired at 9:00 pm on Wednesday, 27 August.

#	Episode No.	Airdate	Time	Ratings (5 capital cities)	Timeslot rank	Overall nightly rank
1.01	Fat Chance	9 July 2008	Wednesday 9:30pm	1,185,000	1st	13th
1.02	The Ambassador	16 July 2008		1,040,000	2nd	16th
1.03	A Time for Talk	23 July 2008		950,000	3rd	18th
1.04	Rear Vision	30 July 2008		996,000	2nd	16th

#	Episode No.	Airdate	Time	Ratings (5 capital cities)	Timeslot rank	Overall nightly rank

Production

Drawing partial inspiration from Cilauro's 1996 documentary The Campaign, which focused on Paul Keating's unsuccessful election bid, the creators originally intended to develop a series centered on an independent politician. However, they later redirected their concept to depict politics as a corporate entity, emphasizing the overarching power structures involved.

Reception

Debi Enker, writing for the Sydney Morning Herald, commended the debut episode for its understated approach and sharp, dry humor that effectively underscored the vacuity of political news cycles. Conversely, opposition leader Tony Abbott criticized the initial episode, contending that it presented a distorted view of government functioning and claimed it would not be representative under a Liberal administration.

The series was honored with the 2009 Logie Award for Most Outstanding Comedy Program.

Accuracy

In 2008, political advisers interviewed by the Sydney Morning Herald remarked that although the characters were depicted as more cynical and lacking moral scruples than actual politicians, some identified figures resembling Rob Sitch's character, Tony. They also noted that pollsters were portrayed as wielding exaggerated power, while senior public servants appeared somewhat more innocent than their real-world counterparts.

Nevertheless, broader issues such as media-driven policymaking, a culture of risk avoidance ("arse-covering"), and superficial treatment of complex challenges were regarded as strikingly accurate, with Melbourne's 2am Lockout regulations cited as an illustrative example.

Home media

Both Series 1 and 2 of The Hollowmen have been released together in a three-disc DVD collection.

External links