Queen of Oz

Queen of Oz is a British television sitcom developed by and starring Catherine Tate as the scandalous Queen Georgiana, a disgraced member of a fictional British royal family sent to rule Australia. The first series, consisting of six episodes, co-written by Tate and Jeff Gutheim, produced by Michele Bennett and directed by Christiaan Van Vuuren, premiered on BBC One and BBC iPlayer on 16 June 2023, and in Australia on ABC TV and ABC iview on 21 June 2023.

Plot

The sitcom follows Princess Georgiana (Catherine Tate), the black sheep of a fictional British royal family who has spent her spoilt life partying and being plastered all over the tabloids. In the wake of her latest scandal, her mother, the Queen, takes the unprecedented step of abdicating her Australian throne in favour of her daughter, hoping that some real responsibilities will make her come to her senses.

Cast

Main

Recurring

• Rodger Corser as Teddy Anderson: A zookeeper and philanthropist related to a Danish prince, who meets Georgiana when she visits his zoo and later gets betrothed to her.
• Daniel Lapaine as Frederick: Georgiana's prince brother and the heir to the British throne, who has a hostile relationship with his sister and, despite being loved by the public, is a sanctimonious and pompous man, only eager to please his parents.
• David Roberts as Richard Steele: A media magnate who likes to put celebrities in the spotlight by covering and creating endless scandals on Steele News.
• Lynette Curran as Sylvia: Teddy's mother, who is quite batty and gets scared whenever someone enters a room, and has a therapy dog.

The series also has numerous cameos by radio and television presenters including Carol Vorderman, Greg James, Zoe Ball, Patrick Kielty, Emma Alberici, Dave Hughes, Amanda Keller, Brendan Jones and Sarah Macdonald. Series director Christiaan Van Vuuren makes a cameo appearance as tech billionaire John Frusctaine in the fifth episode.

Episodes

Production

Conception and development

Catherine Tate first began developing the idea for the sitcom in 2017, after being approached by Canadian producer Borga Dorter. Initially, it was supposed to be set in Canada and was unsuccessfully pitched to local broadcasters as Queen of Canada. Tate then decided to move the setting to Australia after touring there with The Catherine Tate Show in late 2018.

Queen of Oz was one of a number of commissions announced at the BBC's annual Edinburgh International Television Festival panel on 25 August 2022. It was reported that the six-part sitcom, written by Tate and Jeff Gutheim and directed by Christiaan Van Vuuren, will be produced by the Australian production company Lingo Pictures and filmed at the end of 2022. Producer Michele Bennett described Queen of Oz as a "fabulously witty series" and a "riotous take on royalty in Australia".

Filming

The production began in Australia in September 2022. In October, the talent agency MCTV specified that the filming was taking place in Sydney. Much of the series was filmed on location at Swifts, a 19th century mansion in Darling Point, which doubled as the fictional Macquarie House, Queen Georgiana's official Australian residence. Some scenes of the second episode were shot in the middle of the Australian bush.

At the end of November, several members of the production team made social media posts with the phrase "That's a wrap", indicating the end of filming. Additional scenes, including the street interview-style footage, were shot in February 2023, with post-production eventually ending in April.

Release

In the UK, all six episodes were released on BBC iPlayer on 16 June 2023, with the first episode airing on BBC One later that day. On 7 July, the fourth episode was moved to BBC Two because of Wimbledon. In Australia, the series premiered on ABC TV and ABC iview on 21 June 2023.

Reception

Critical response

In her three-star review, Lucy Mangan of The Guardian said that Queen of Oz is "a solidly written" and "well-constructed" series with "lots of callbacks within each episode, and nicely drawn relationships among the main and peripheral characters". Although she didn't find the show "spectacularly funny", she concluded that it is "extraordinarily watchable" and praised the performances of Tate, Rob Collins and Robert Coleby. She described the main character as "truly and refreshingly monstrous" and called her a middle-aged version of Lauren Cooper crossed with Nan and Princess Margaret.

A four-star review from Kylie Northover of The Sydney Morning Herald also praised Tate's performance, while describing it as a "mostly silly fun" show that "occasionally veers into darker comedy while still feeling, at times, old-fashioned". Ben Pobjie of the same newspaper found that Queen of Oz is "really a damn good show", describing Tate's acting as "brilliant" and claiming that she and the show's co-writers have "crafted the scripts superbly" resulting in what is "surely the best new local comedy of the year".

In a less favourable, one-star review from The Daily Telegraph, Anita Singh called the series "desperate and lazy", criticising Tate and her central character for not being "remotely likeable" and favouring "far funnier" supporting performances, especially from Niky Wardley. In a three-star review, the Daily Mail's Sarah Vine said "there is some good stuff here, not least the supporting cast of characters, which are funny and well-written", and proclaimed that Tate "remains one of the few TV comedians who still dares to push people's buttons".

Accolades

References

External links

• Queen of Oz at IMDb
• Queen of Oz at British Comedy Guide