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<\/p>\nWhat would Aussie TV be without the luminous Claudia Karvan? We\u2019ve seen her grow up on-screen to become one of our most loved and consistent stars on the box. She and producer John Edwards\u2019s affiliation goes back to Network Ten\u2019s The Secret Life of Us in 2001 and now along comes BUMP, the Stan series co-produced by Karvan and Edwards, and co-created by Karvan and TV newcomer, Kelsey Munro.<\/p>\n
Karvan\u2019s a grandmother in this one. Not that her character, schoolteacher Angie, is ready for it \u2013 she doesn\u2019t even know her schoolgirl daughter, Olympia \u2013 \u201cOly\u201d (Nathalie Morris), is pregnant when she gives birth. To extend the suspension of disbelief maybe a tad too far, even Oly doesn\u2019t know she\u2019s pregnant. But she gets a reality dose when a little human being starts to make its way out of her one day while she\u2019s in the toilets at school.<\/p>\n
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While a family dramedy with teen sex and pregnancy isn\u2019t exactly an original concept, BUMP is admittedly novel in its premise of having the mystery baby appear in the first episode and then having the various players dealing with the fall-out. Sure, questions niggle. How could Oly not have known? Why didn\u2019t the slenderly built girl get big enough for anyone to be suspicious? Good luck to anyone other than Edwards and Karvan pitching that one to cynical TV execs.<\/p>\n
Not that those sudden births from so-called concealed or cryptic pregnancies don\u2019t occur, but it\u2019s always unbelievable that the birth mother didn\u2019t notice being kicked from the inside many times a day for months. Perhaps Oly will be forced to confront her own denial more as the series progresses. Regardless, Nathalie Morris (Shortland Street) is confident and astute in her portrayal of the high-achieving teen in shock at what her body\u2019s just done. She matches the more experienced actors in the room.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not really a spoiler to say that things move at lightning speed in the first couple of episodes. The little girl is born and Oly\u2019s initial rejection of her and thoughts of adopting her out soon give way to her decision to keep her. The writers could\u2019ve wrung far more tension and drama out of that dilemma so it seems an unusual choice. Likewise, after we find out that Oly\u2019s nerdy boyfriend, Lachie (Peter Thurnwald), couldn\u2019t possibly be the baby daddy because they\u2019ve never had sex, the culprit \u2013 handsome soccer-playing Santiago\/ \u201cSanti\u201d (Carlos Sanson) \u2013 accepts his paternity and wants to do the right thing by Oly and their daughter. Again, not the path to do take for maximum conflict, but the situation is complicated by Santi\u2019s antics on the side.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the adults are stuffing things up left, right and centre. Angie\u2019s marriage to dope-smoking slacker, Dom (Angus Sampson likeable in the most obviously comic role), is in deep trouble when we see she\u2019s fallen for fellow teacher, Matias (Ricardo Scheihing Vasquez). He just happens to be Santiago\u2019s dad \u2013 meaning the would-be lovers are already co-grandparents.<\/p>\n
Dom does his best to try to keep Santi out of his new granddaughter\u2019s life. He doesn’t want anything to interfere with his daughter\u2019s big plans, even though in the immediate present she\u2019s dealing with carrying a little person to school as well as a backpack \u2013 a choice that obviously brings maximum shock to her cohort of students who only days earlier didn\u2019t even know she was pregnant. But the presence of a baby in the classroom seems to be accepted very quickly \u2013 the creators opting to gloss over another big challenge when it could\u2019ve been wrung for more drama and\/or comedy.<\/p>\n
All of the diversity boxes were obviously ticked by the producers here. The characters come from numerous backgrounds, with particular emphasis on the whole culture surrounding Santi\u2019s Chilean family. Lachie has an Asian background (Thurnwald is Korean-born) and there are several faces of colour, reflecting a genuine multicultural suburb in inner-western Sydney. Filming under COVID-19 restrictions explains why the supposed newborn baby is far from it \u2013 they weren\u2019t allowed to have a younger one on set so a three month-old had to be substituted. It\u2019s quite off-putting to see the baby looking around with strong neck muscles when in fact she should be still a wobbly blob!<\/p>\n