Series 2 (Westside)

Westside Series 2
Episodes	10
Originally Aired	June 12, 2016– August 14, 2016
Setting	1981
Media releases
Soundtrack	Music From Westside Series Two
DVD	Westside Series Two

Westside Series 2 consists of ten episodes that aired on TV3 in 2016. Set in 1981, it follows the aftermath of Rita's imprisonment and the gang's involvement in the Springbok tour.

Plot and setting

Series two is set in 1981 with the Springbok tour as the historical backdrop. The series begins as Rita West returns home from a stint in prison after taking the blame for her son Wolf shooting a member of the Horsemen in the finale of series one. She finds that Wolf is now a prospect for the gang to maintain a truce with Ted's gang, and takes matters into her own hands to get her son back.

Rita helps her prison mate Belinda Lace in a plot for revenge on her ex-husband, corporate high-flier Evan Lace. She seeks out Des McEwen, who invites her to a swingers party where he wants Ted to do a job. While there, Ted plants plants papers in Des' client's safe while Rita asks Lace for a job for Wolf. Wolf is set up with a job at a construction site, but is quickly fired as he won't abide to authority.

The anti-tour protesters.

Bert and Falani encounter a racist cop, and to save Falani from imprisonment, Bert has to snitch on the anti-tour movement for McCarthy. Going by the name Hone, he enlists in a protester group where meets Riana, who he falls for. On a road trip with Falani to watch the Waikato/Springbok game, Bert ends up getting more involved and teams up with the protesters.

Continuing their co-operation with Des McEwen, Ted and the gang travel to Gisborne to steal money from South African supporters, but return home empty handed. Tired of Lefty's cheating and lack of appreciation for her, Ngaire initiates her own affair with Mike McCarthy in a search for romance and affection.

The wives watch the televised broadcast of Charles and Diana's wedding, which brings some skeletons out of the closet for Ngaire who blames Rita for taking Ted away from her. It is revealed that Ted and Rita's 20th wedding anniversary falls on the same date, but they keep quiet about it due to their turbulent start, where Rita had to be rescued from the grips of her aggressive Nazi father who didn't accept her seeing Ted. Rita reveals the secret of her background to Bilkey, who confides in her that he's gay and seeing a man named Steve.

Phineas' world comes crashing down when his mother dies and a posthumous letter reveals that he is of Maori origin. While waiting for further instructions from Des McEwen regarding the South African job, Ted grows frustrated with twiddling his thumbs while Rita expands her business at the Galleria. Wolf starts doing jobs for Evan Lace, including blowing up a fish factory belonging to the Dallies, which further frustrated Ted as his son isn't following his code of honour. Wolf discovers other perks of employment in the form of Evan's wife Joanne, who starts having sex with him, and he finally finds the elusive safe Rita has been asking for.

Bert gets more involved with the protesters and especially Riana, with whom he destroys a broadcasting station to sabotage the first test game against the Springboks. Bert is still informing for Mike McCarthy and his sudden interest in the movement causes suspicion from the group's leader Dave. Ngaire and Mike's continuing affair is discovered when Bert goes to his house. He tells Rita and she gives Ngaire an ultimatum and a job in the Galleria, while Mike pleads with Rita to keep it a secret.

Ted and the gang continue to try the South African job for Des McEwen, but it leads to nothing and they end up relying on their wives for financial support, which creates tension between the boys. Lefty and Phineas go out on their own to rob the RSA, but Lefty is arrested and tries to save himself by offering to rat on Ted. Ngaire delivers an ultimatum to Mike to let her husband go.

Carol is still desperate to have children and when all her efforts fall short, she accepts that Phineas might be infertile and finds creative ways to collect his sperm for testing.

Episodes

#	Title	Directed by	Written by	Air date
1	Episode 1	Murray Keane	James Griffin	12 June 2016
2	Episode 2	Murray Keane	James Griffin	19 June 2016
3	Episode 3	Michael Hurst	Kate McDermott	26 June 2016
4	Episode 4	Michael Hurst	James Griffin	3 July 2016
5	Episode 5	Murray Keane	Rachel Lang	10 July 2016
6	Episode 6	Murray Keane	John Daniell and James Griffin	17 July 2016
7	Episode 7	Michael Hurst	Michael Beran and James Griffin	24 July 2016
8	Episode 8	Michael Hurst	Kate McDermott	31 July 2016
9	Episode 9	Murray Keane	Nick Ward and James Griffin	7 August 2016
10	Episode 10	Murray Keane	James Griffin	14 August 2016

Development

Production of Series 2 was green-lit when NZ On Air announced they would fund ten new episodes with NZ$7,597,000 on July 28, 2015.

Writing

Creator and writer team James Griffin and Rachel Lang said they drew on some of their own experiences as anti-tour protesters when writing the second series.

Casting

All members from the series one main cast returned for series two. Reef Ireland was cast to play the next incarnation of Wolf West, and got guidance about the character from Grant Bowler, the original actor of Wolf in Outrageous Fortune.

Dean O'Gorman, who has starred in "The Almighty Johnsons," another James Griffin and Rachel Lang creation, was cast as a character described as a "corporate high-flier" – Evan Lace.

Kirsten Ibbetson joined the cast as Riana, the love interest of Bert Thompson. Hannah Marshall, the real life girlfriend of David de Lautour, starred in the series as Joanne.

Laura McGoldrick, a New Zealand TV personality, guest starred on the series as a neighbour of the Wests. She had a one-on-one scene with Antonia Prebble.

A casting call looking for Pacific Island guys in the 17-21 age range to play cousins of a lead character (probably Falani), helping to steal cars, was published on December 7. One of which would be "very featured" while the others were more background.

Some models, including Channelle Williams, were featured in the series as the Horsemen's women.

Production

Crew

Mark Beesley, who produced and directed two episodes of Series 1, is the producer for Series 2.

Actor and director Michael Hurst directed a block of two episodes. He was shadowed by Aidee Walker, previously known as Draska Doslic in Outrageous Fortune, as part of the Drama Director Attachment Scheme by The Directors & Editors Guild of NZ.

Murray Keane, who directed the third episode of series 1, returned as director.

Jaindra Watson is the costume designer, and Maya Bailey is the hair and make-up designer. The two were responsible for updating the characters with an 80's look.

Filming

Filming for Series 2 started on September 27th, 2015.

Scenes involving a group of Pacific Island guys, cousins of a lead character, helping to steal cars, were filmed between December 20th and 23rd or January 3rd and 14th.

The wives (Ngaire Munroe, Rita West and Carol O'Driscoll) in Westside Series 2.

Scenes from the riots during the Springbok tour were filmed around Eden Park in Auckland from January 5th to 7th. About 150 extras were on set to play protesters and police.

The last day of filming in the interior set of the West house took place on January 11th.

The final day of filming for the series was on January 15th. The wrap party was held on the same day.

Filming locations

The Waitakere Estate was used as the location for the Rangipo Lodge. The church used for Phineas' mother's funeral was Campbells Bay All Hallows Methodist Church.

Cast

Main cast

• Antonia Prebble as Rita (10/10)
• David de Lautour as Ted (10/10)
• Reef Ireland as Wolf (10/10)
• Dan Musgrove as Lefty (10/10)
• Esther Stephens as Ngaire (10/10)
• Todd Emerson as Bilkey (10/10)
• Pana Hema-Taylor as Bert (10/10)
• Xavier Horan as Phineas (10/10)
• Sophie Hambleton as Carol (10/10)

Recurring cast

• Will Hall as Mike
• Jordan Mooney as Eric
• Patrick Tafa as Falani
• Caleb Wells as Sparky
• Stelios Yiakmis as Dave
• Kirsten Ibbetson as Riana
• Laura Hill as Belinda
• Tim Carlsen as Terry
• Grace Neely as Chelsea
• Ella Shirtcliffe as Lisa
• Joel Tobeck as Des*
• Dean O'Gorman as Evan
• Hannah Marshall as Joanne
• Glen Levy as Darijo*

Guest cast

• Aaron Jackson as Cannonball (1/10)
• Scott Wills as Buck (1/10)
• Lynn Waldergrave as Mrs. Buck (1/10)
• Laura McGoldrick as Wendy
• Jason Hodzelmans as Brian
• Heath Jones as Jaanie
• Patrick Kuhtze as Keppler
• Alistair Hayward as Ken
• Ross Brannigan as Father Murphy
• Tama Jarman as Steve
• Dra McKay as Elsa (1/10)
• Alistair Browning as Dieter (1/10)
• Jordan Mauger as Rod Nugent
• Keegan Melville as Young Ted**

* Is credited in episode 1, but does not appear.
** Is credited in episode 5, but does not appear.

Gallery

See more at Westside Series 2/Gallery