Dawn French Joins Tales from Outer Suburbia

Tales from Outer Suburbia, represented by the Australian Children’s Television Foundation, has added British actor, comedian and writer Dawn French (French and Saunders, The Vicar of Dibley) to its voice cast.

Based on Shaun Tan’s best-selling anthology of the same name, the series follows 13-year-old Klara and her 6-year-old brother as they move to Outer Suburbia with their newly single mother. Their summer holiday turns into a series of surreal adventures. French will voice Klara and Pim’s grandmother.

Alongside French, other cast members include Geraldine Hakewell (Miss Fisher’s Modern Murder Mysteries, Wakefield, Wanted), Brooklyn Davies and Felix Oliver Vergés, as well as Michael Theo (Austin, Love on the Spectrum), Shabana Azeez (The Pitt, Lesbian Space Princess, Birdeater), Andrea Solonge (Prosper, Class of ’07) and Tony Nikolakopoulos (The Wog Boy, The Wannabes).

Tales from Outer Suburbia is created and produced by an award-winning team, including the Oscar-winning duo behind The Lost Thing, Tan and producer Sophie Byrne (Highly Spirited). Series director is Noel Cleary, and Alexia Gates-Foale of Flying Bark Productions is producer.

“Grandma is amazing,” French said of her character. “She’s courageous and adventurous, she’s quite chaotic, she’s a bit bonkers. What drew me to the character, and the whole project, is it’s quite possibly the strangest thing I’ve ever read! It’s very surreal—you understand it on a visceral level but you also don’t understand it, so you’re drawn in to try and make sense of slightly surreal things.

“This is a series about big, big themes: themes of rejection, forgiveness, absence, loss, grief, judgment, friendships. I think it’s absolutely crucial that we make good quality shows for children and for families because it’s a shared experience when you watch something together. That’s when you bond as a family. That’s when you work out who you are, and you start to process what you think about the world. My happiest memories as a child are of things that we all watch together. To make something as brilliant and beautiful as this is crucial.”

“We are absolutely thrilled to welcome the incomparable Dawn French to Tales from Outer Suburbia,” commented Byrne and Gates-Foale. “Her impeccable comedic timing and natural warmth bring a genuine richness and charm to the character of Grandma. Dawn embodies the perfect blend of wit and wonder needed to portray such an enigmatic figure, and we know both children and their parents—many of whom already adore her from her remarkable career—will fall in love with her all over again.”

Tan said, “Dawn brings a unique warmth, confidence and levity to a character that audiences really needed to trust during difficult moments, and I can’t imagine a better performance. She is the anchor of reassurance in a sea of animated weirdness, the hand you want to hold tight as the tide fills the room.”

Mary-Ellen Mullane, acting head of children and family at ABC, commented, “This is a remarkable project from an extraordinary team, to which we have now added the wonderful, rich voice talent of Dawn French. What a brilliant piece of casting by the team. We can’t wait to bring this unique series to Australian audiences on ABC.”

Andra Duke, director of content at BYUtv, added, “We’re absolutely thrilled to have such a legendary talent as Dawn French joining the Tales from Outer Suburbia voice cast. Her vocal performance as Klara and Pim’s Grandma embodies her trademark wit and warmth that audiences around the world have embraced for generations.”