| The Slap | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Drama |
| Directed by | Jessica Hobbs Matthew Saville Tony Ayres Robert Connolly |
| Starring | Jonathan LaPaglia Melissa George Sophie Okonedo Essie Davis Alex Dimitriades Lex Marinos Diana Glenn Anthony Hayes Sophie Lowe Blake Davis Oliver Ackland Toula Yianni Eugenia Fragos Rebecca Downie |
| Country of origin | Australia |
| Language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 8 (List of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Penny Chapman |
| Producer(s) | Tony Ayres Helen Bowden Michael McMahon |
| Running time | 51 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | ABC1 |
| Picture format | 576i (SDTV) 720p (HDTV) |
| Audio format | Stereo |
| Original run | 6 October 2011 – 24 November 2011 |
| External links | |
| Website | |
The Slap is an Australian television drama series produced by Matchbox Pictures for ABC1, screening each Thursday night at 8:30pm in October and November 2011 - repeats air the following night each week on ABC2.[1][2] It is based on The Slap, a 2008 multi-award winning novel by Australian author Christos Tsiolkas.
Filmed in Melbourne, Victoria, the eight episodes of this series were produced by Tony Ayres, Helen Bowden and Michael McMahon, with Penny Chapman as executive producer.[3] The directors, Jessica Hobbs, Matthew Saville, Tony Ayres and Robert Connolly, direct two episodes each. The writing team includes Emily Ballou, Alice Bell, Brendan Cowell, Kris Mrksa and Cate Shortland.[4][5][6]
Contents |
The series explores what happens when a man slaps a child, who does not belong to him, at a suburban barbecue. Each episode is based upon the viewpoint of different adults who attended the barbecue.
The initial episode gained viewing figures of nearly 1 million people, winning its timeslot, when it was first shown on ABC1.[7] Later, excluding figures for the final episode, the ABC announced that The Slap was averaging 952,000 metro (five main capital city) viewers on ABC1 and a further 232,000 viewers on ABC2 with 14% of viewing as Timeshifted (watched later through various PVR devices). It has recorded 566,000 plays via ABC iView and 204,000 plays via the official website.[8]
The series received generally positive reviews. Holly Byrnes of The Daily Telegraph said after viewing the first episode that The Slap is "arguably the best Australian drama produced this year",[9] and Luke Buckmaster of Crikey commented after seeing previews, "The dramas and interpersonal relationships are engrossing from the get-go, the story like a David Williamson script that actually has bite, tension and doesn't pander to racial or cultural stereotypes. The Slap presents a view of middle class multicultural Australia rarely seen in film and television."[10] David Knox of TV Tonight also praised the series, writing after episode one, "I was completely hooked by its ability to present three-dimensional characters on the screen and its strength in telling an urban story. So confident are the sum of the parts that frankly it feels like this will only get better. The Slap is one of the bravest dramas of the year."[11] Yet, Clem Bastow of The Sydney Morning Herald had the opposite view, writing the program contains, "listless direction and lifeless editing (huge pauses between great swathes of dialogue), an adaptation that squishes large passages of the narrative into bite-sized chunks (witness Hector and Connie's divebomb from flirty glances and kissing to Connie suddenly deciding he was repellent), and the actors wandering around in the middle of it all."[12] Despite this earlier negative review, the Herald subsequently gave The Slap its "Couch Potato" award for best Australian drama of the year.[13] Kit MacFarlane in Metro offered further negative evaluation of the series, finding that "despite a strong dramatic foundation, The Slap is ultimately an exercise in announcing drama rather than exploring it, presenting a scenario drenched in forced excess, sensationalism and artistic posturing" and describing it as "around seven hours of soap opera masquerading as earnest drama." MacFarlane goes on to suggest that its critical popularity might point to "a regression in the ability to analyse screen texts and narrative nuances" and that "The Slap’s themes and cultural ideas have been explored countless times before in a variety of different ways."[14]
The Region 4 DVD and Blu-ray was released on 1 December 2011.[15][16][17]
The Region 2 DVD will be released on 9 January 2012.[18]
The accompanying paperback book was released on 24 August 2011: Tsiolkas, Christos (2011). The Slap. Allen & Unwin. ISBN 9781742375601.[19]