Ladies in Black on ABC – It’s 1961. Magda’s (Debi Mazar) beautiful dream of transforming Australian women’s fashion is about to be crushed by her husband’s foolish mistake.
Without consultation, Stefan (Russell Dykstra) has lent money to their friend Rudi (Thom Green). It proves a costly error. Trapped at Goodes she must fight against entrenched conservatism and snobbery to rise from the bottom once again.
Her newest antagonist, Mrs Ambrose (Miranda Otto) has just arrived from Harrods and is determined to save the store from adventurous designers and working women. Caught between the two is newlywed Fay (Jessica De Gouw), whose plans of starting a family are put on hold by her husband Rudi’s financial risk-taking.
Fay faces hard choices about motherhood and career that didn’t figure in her dreams of marriage. The failed loan comes between Fay and Magda when they most need each other’s support.
Forced to return by family tragedy, Lisa (Clare Hughes) finds Goodes ladieswear in turmoil. Her own dreams of university success are threatened by financial crisis, leaving her torn between ambition and necessity. Determined to make her mark on the world, she also struggles to overcome the indifference of campus ‘lion’, Richard (Tom Wilson), who edits the student paper and dominates the uni crowd.
The staff of Goodes face competition, difficult customers, unruly staff, shoplifters, debutantes and internal rivalries. Magda and Mrs Ambrose divide over the direction of women’s fashion. As do Elias (Julian Maroun), the Head of Visual Merchandising and Mackenzie (Todd McKenney) the chief buyer, but their animosity has a darker cause.
Like Sydney in the sixties, the ladies of Goodes are facing a world on the brink of transformation and the pressures of unexpected change will threaten the love and friendship that is their best chance to thrive amidst the challenges of a changing Australia.
Production Credit: A Bunya Entertainment production. Major production investment from the ABC, South Australian Film Corporation and Screen Australia.
Financed with support from Screen NSW. Producers: Sophia Zachariou, Angela Littlejohn, Greer Simpkin, David Jowsey. Executive Producers: Greg Waters, Allanah Zitserman, Sue Milliken. ABC Executive Producers: Louise Smith, Rachel Okine, Alex Baldwin, Sally Riley. Distributed by ABC Commercial.
Ladies in Black on ABC and ABC iview – Sunday 16 June at 8.30pm
Ladies in Black on ABC
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