Outrageous Fortune – From the beginning on TV3

Think back to 2005. A highly eligible young Prince William arrived in New Zealand for an 11-day tour. George W Bush was inaugurated for his second term as President. Kate Moss was dropped from several major fashion labels after a drugs scandal. And the cheerfully trashy West family first hit our TV screens.

When it all started the Wests were a one-family crime wave with a proud tradition in thievery, larceny and petty crime. But then patriarch Wolfgang West was sentenced to four years in jail, and his wife Cheryl decided that the family were cleaning up their act and going straight.

Each instalment is a movie-length celebration of all things West as we follow matriarch Cheryl, determined to save her brood from following in their father’s fingerprints; eldest son Jethro, an ambitious lawyer-to-be with a few secrets; Jethro’s twin Van (identical except in the brains department) who only wants to be like his dad; 18-year-old Pascalle, who wants to be Rachel Hunter; 15-year-old movie buff Loretta, who is blackmailing her teacher; and Grandpa Ted, who may have Alzheimer’s – unless he’s just playing it up to annoy people.

Then there’s Detective Sergeant Wayne Judd, the West family nemesis; the Hongs, a wealthy Asian who may or may not have Triad connections; Caroline Darling, Loretta’s deputy principal, who has been having an affair with Jethro since he was a 15-year-old student; Munter, Van’s best mate and partner in crime; and Wolf himself, who does not intend to take his wife’s sudden wave of righteousness lying down.

Created by James Griffin and Rachel Lang, OUTRAGEOUS FORTUNE stars Robyn Malcolm as Cheryl West, Grant Bowler as her husband Wolf, Antony Starr as twin brothers Van and Jethro West, Siobhan Marshall as Pascalle, Antonia Prebble as Loretta and Frank Whitten as Grandpa West.

Over six seasons, 108 hours and more than 60 awards, Outrageous Fortune has become the most successful drama series on New Zealand television. The West family, their friends and associates laughed, cried, loved, drank and swore their way into the hearts of audiences at home and around the world.

Don’t miss the movie-length episodes of OUTRAGEOUS FORTUNE, Saturday 11 June, 8.30pm.

- TV3