angelicvampyre This show was completely character driven, dependent on the depth brought to the characters by its two leads and the chemistry between them.The performances are brilliant, showing both the reality of prison life and the slow build from attraction to friendship to impossible love between Kevin Jones (Jackman) and Louisa Correlli (Furness). They have relatively little screen-time together in many of the episodes but the connection between them is electrifying.Jones is a flawed hero, a loner (at least initially) and repeat offender who is often bitter and angry or even savage but there is a added depth to him that makes it easy to understand Correlli's compulsion to reach out to the good heart that lies beneath his pain and sometimes shines through unexpectedly.The supporting cast are also excellent, giving the leads strong characters to play off and mostly avoiding the pitfalls of two-dimensional caricatures of prisoners and guards. Prison life is starkly portrayed, showing the hope and despair that the inmates feel and the bonds of friendship or enmity that can form between them.

wynne very interesting prison drama, with strong stories, and many great character portrayals.It is mature and often ugly, realistic and very surprising for television. The lead characters generously share the glory as other stories come to the forefront, and are true to themselves - the ending is honest and atypical for North American audiences.It is impossible to take your eyes off of Deborah and Hugh, they are so good together.I wonder if the series continued without the presence of Hugh Jackman?Underrated.

deadly-1 Having read the comments, which are very favourable, it would be nice to see this on our own TV - as we have with other Australian series.I can only imagine how good he was. I first saw Hugh live in London and was very impressed with the extent of his talent. It was quite some time later that I discovered he had started to make films. So I have collected what I can but I cannot get "Paperback Hero" or "Standing Room" - anybody know of any copies around ?Every film that I have seen he always takes the acting credit. Being a stage actor he can bring so much more to the screen. So many 'small' touches that bring the performances to the fore. He is a real professional I really loved KATE & LEOPOLD. The theme music of the film is lovely and I would have loved to have heard Hugh Sing "Until" which won an Oscar. Pity about Meg's hair she too is a very talented lady but the hair spoilt the character.

Lantana I watched this tv series when it first came out on good old ABC and found it addictive to watch. This is the show that the now world famous Jackman met his wife while making and the sexual tension between them (in the few scenes they actually had together) makes the scenes in the Sopranos between Tony Soprano and his psychiatrist look like a bad soap opera.It's not just a romance though, although it was talked up as one when it first came out, it's mainly about prison life and Hugh Jackman's character dealing with being in jail and being in love with his screw.There's a few strange cameos from other actors mostly only Australians would recognise and all in all it was a brilliant series with an appropriately heart wrenching ending.