Seven this week premieres the much-anticipated Bevan Lee drama Between Two Worlds. It launches after the premiere of Farmer Wants a Wife on Sunday night, setting up a massive ratings brawl as the new Seven shows face off against the premier of season four of Nine’s Ninja Warrior Australia.

Created by Bevan Lee, the TV drama guru told Mediaweek it is his best yet, and from the man who has All Saints, Always Greener, Packed to the Rafters and Winners & Losers on his IMDB credits, it is quite a claim.

See more: Between Two Worlds: Everything you need to know about Bevan Lee’s new drama

After watching the first hour I am not about to argue. The first of 10 episodes takes viewers on a wild ride and leaves them panting for breathe at the end, definitely wanting more.

“What I wanted to do with this show was to create a rip-snorting, twisting and turning show that would make people come back for one good reason – what the hell happens next,” Lee told Mediaweek.

“Usually what happens next is not what viewers are expecting. It is a show that keeps pulling the rug out from underneath the audience. A lot of what people presume from that first hour just ain’t so. It’s an exercise in misdirection and tricking people into thinking they are watching one sort of show, then boom, it changes. I wanted to give the audience a wild ride!”

Philip Quast and Hermione Norris

Without wanting to spoil any enjoyment, all we will say is there a major event in the first few minutes. Lees aid: “After that people realise that, shit, anything can happen.” That wild ride certainly starts in the first episode where there are several more jolts before the end of that first hour.

For people trying to forecast the plot…beware! “I constantly set stuff up, and then subvert it.” Viewers need to pay attention too. “It is an incredibly complex plot. It seems to be a simple plot, but by the time you go through 10 hours it is fiendishly complex.”

The series name refers not to just the two worlds of the Walford and Grey families, but also the meeting of two genres of drama.

“I have made my living in two forms of drama. One is high melodrama, and I see that as a term of praise, and the other is family drama.

“With Between Two Worlds what I wanted to do is take the two forms and do a mixtape with them. If you look at the first episode, and separate all the scenes out, you would have half hour pilots two completely different shows. They are only linked by the final moment of that episode.

“The Grey world is a little bit like the Rafters and the Walford world is a bit like Sons & Daughters on steroids. It takes some time for the two worlds to converge.” [Lee worked on Sons & Daughters as a writer between 1982 and 1987.]

Lee said he had the idea for this series rattling around for some time. “It’s an expensive project that was quite difficult to get off the ground. We always thought there was no point doing it unless we could reference the Walford world as lavishly as it is.”

Having taken some time and getting access to the funds to make it look good led Lee to tell us, “It’s probably the best fully formed scripting work I have done. I have written nine out of the 10 episodes and then I contributed to the other one as well with Trent Atkinson.”

Lee said he is not the sort to work in a writer’s room and writing by committee. “There is a bit of a control freak inside me that rebels at that thought. If Tom Stoppard can write a whole play, why can’t I write a whole season?”

The creator is hoping for more than a second season, something that virtually all of his projects have been. “There is more story to tell. I call this the best show I have ever done. I hope there is more of it. However we are in a world where there is no such thing as a slam dunk.”

Lee noted he has had a few turkeys over the years that deserved to be cancelled. “But this one doesn’t deserve to go down. It would be great to have a number of seasons of it.”

Director of photography Henry Pierce with director Kriv Stenders

Lee quickly adds it was not just his contribution making it great – but a wonderful team that all came together. That included long-time Lee collaborator and Seven’s executive producer Julie McGauran, series producer Chris Martin-Jones “my dream producer”, Lesley Parker co-producer, director Kriv Stenders “wonderfully cinematic on the first two episodes followed by other wonderful directors and amazing art directors”.

Of the cast Lee said: “It was just mean to be that Philip Quast took the role of Phillip Walford. Hermione Norris [as Cate Walford] came from left of field and has done a wonderful job with that character. She came in after I’d written the part and actually did a shitload better than what I had in my head when I wrote it.”

Future of TV drama

Lee: “I am very glad to have had my career. I am now borderline thinking of retirement. The business is now too confounding and confusing to my sense of Teutonic logic.

“I lived in the days when if you have a good project the money would be got together, and it would get made. If it was good, it would rate and it all made sense. Things in the business are stopping to make sense to me know.

“It is difficult for people writing these days with the emergence of appropriate speak. It makes everybody fearful of what they write. In good faith am I going to write something where people will take exception and turn on me like a pack of feral dogs and my career will be over? It’s almost a new McCarthyism.”

Aaron Jefferey and Sara Wiseman

Thinking of stepping back from series TV

Lee: “I have had my time in the sun. It’s time for me to step aside and let the young crop come through and make their shows.

“When you reach 70 [which happens in November] you don’t know when you are going to die. I don’t want to fall over dying of a heart attack with a headful of characters!”

Lee seemed convinced this is the last series he has in him. He didn’t rule out maybe a novel or perhaps a movie. “This is a great way to go out because I have my head held high. Even if it’s not a ratings hit, which would be very sad, I know it’s a fucking good show. That’s the way I want to go out.”

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Top Photos: Bevan Lee on the set of Between Two Worlds

The titles closing are Harper’s Bazaar, Elle, InStyle, Men’s Health, Women’s Health, Good Health, NW and OK!

In a note to staff Mercury Capital’s magazine chief Brendon Hill said it was “no longer viable” to publish the eight paused titles.

Hill explained: “Whilst we were very optimistic to bring back all staff currently on stand down and return all titles in a few months, the lack of long term advertising market confidence and the escalating situation in Victoria and NSW is an unfortunate sign that the impact of Covid is ongoing and unrelenting. Whilst we were beginning to see promising signs short term, the market remains too volatile to confidently forecast the next 6-12 months.”

The promising short term signs is possibly a reference to sales success Harper’s Bazaar was having with the brand though to have achieved its target of ad pages before it would return to print.

While there is no detail of the number of staff impacted by the decision, Hill said: “As part of these closures we will lose a number of our exceptionally talented, hard-working and loyal colleagues who are currently on stand down. We remained committed to bring these staff back and were looking forward to having a full team back, however the further market decline and long-term impact has made this impossible to achieve.”

Hill added there will be some staff not currently on stand down who will be let go. “This is a huge blow to the affected staff, the broader team and the industry.”

The move to axe eight titles from the group comes just days after Mercury Capital announced it was restarting magazine titles in New Zealand – Woman’s Day, New Zealand Woman’s Weekly, The Australian Women’s Weekly NZ, Your Home & Garden, The Listener and Air New Zealand’s magazine Kia Ora.

Meanwhile Mercury Capital has sold the New Zealand titles North and South and Metro to independent publishers, which will resume publication “as soon as possible”.

North & South has been sold to independent publishers Konstantin Richter and Verena Friederike Hasel, with Metro is going to Simon Chesterman.

The new-look Mercury Capital New Zealand operation will launch with a team of about 40 after the old Bauer Media New Zealand had a staff of close to 300.

Hosted by Nova’s Smallzy, the singer explained he was “gutted not to be in Australia” but was, thanks to Wi-Fi, he was keen to make it all happen for an exclusive band of Nova listeners.

Bay opened his Red Room Live Stream with a new track, Chew on My Heart before jumping into a cover of Don’t Look Back in Anger by Oasis. He shared with the lucky fans that he once played for Noel Gallagher himself which he joked was very intimidating. Bay then turned to a fan favourite – Hold Back The River.

Before getting into the performance, he explained how he felt learning that Australians were some of the first to hear and know the song: “There’ll always be a special place in my heart for you guys,” he said.

Fans then had the opportunity to ask their favourite artist some questions, one in particular really struck a chord with the singer. When asked about what he had learned during his career, James said: “When you think you’ve given 110% go for 115,” he said, advising people to go beyond what they perceive as their tether. “That’s often where a good idea comes from.”

Tonight on Nova’s evening show Smallzy’s Surgery, Smallzy will reveal the artist on the next Nova’s Red Room Live Stream experience.

The only change on top of the chart is in NZ with Game of Thrones the new #1 on the Overall TV chart. This caps off a fairly settled week on the TV Demand charts which bucks the trend of 2020 which has seen a fair bit of change week to week.

However, one new addition to the Overall TV chart in Australia is Criminal Minds which wrapped up its 15th and final season on February 19, 2020, in the states. The procedural crime show has seen a fair number of cast members come and go throughout its extensive run but the show stayed true to its roots as the narrative surrounded a group of criminal profilers who work for the FBI using behavioural analysis and profiling to investigate crimes. The show aired on CBS in the US and can the final season can be seen on Seven and 7Plus in Australia.

The top Australian produced show on the TV Demand charts this week is The Voice Australia which concluded its grand final week on Sunday night. Chris Sebastian was named The Voice of Australia following the Grand Finale on Nine, beating out fellow finalists Stellar Perry, Johnny Manuel and Siala Robson in one of the tightest public votes in The Voice Australia history.