It's often said these days that we're living through a golden age of television.
The bar set by one show is toppled by an even better series the next week. Somewhere amid the smorgasbords there are moments that you remember. After all of the bingeing and the TV feasts, there are morsels that stay stuck in your teeth.
In an upcoming new episode of Five Bedrooms, when the Newcastle-bred actor Johnny Carr is confronted by his on-screen mate on a building site, we are treated to one of those morsels.
Premiering on New Year's Day 2022, on streaming service Paramount Plus, the first instalment in series three finds Ben (played by Stephen Peacocke) in an awkward and regrettable situation. Carr's character, Kevin "Simmo" Fitzsimons, is then left in an uncomfortable position himself.
In a skilfully nuanced piece of performance, the actor Carr appears as confused as he is ambivalent and irritated. Should he only be loyal to his mate Ben? Or should he instead be honest with himself?
It's for raising questions and issues like these, that the Aussie drama Five Bedrooms has quickly become respected.
For Carr, who became an acclaimed stage actor before turning his talents to the screen, the show's success can also be attributed to the characters themselves.
While there's been a sameness to how the suburban man has traditionally been depicted on Australian television, Carr thinks that this show's strength lies in breaking those moulds.
"What the writers have done so well with this show, with characters like Ben and Simmo, is create archetypes that are instantly recognisable," Carr says.
"But then these characters subvert your expectations.
"They do things that you don't expect them to do.
"There's a real softness and sensitivity to these characters which I think is great. You get the familiar Aussie male, but you also get something that we haven't seen very often in shows like this.
"It's probably why it still feels fresh. It also helps the audience appreciate the history of their friendship as well.
"The fact that the two blokes can still be open and honest with one another in that manner," he says.
Another aspect that audiences have come to appreciate is how Five Bedrooms profiles a more contemporary kind of Australian lifestyle. In season one, in the very first episode, we met an assortment of young urbanites who all needed a safe and convenient place to live.
With inner-city real estate becoming unaffordable to so many, they resolved to band together and, to save whatever money they could, to live together as well.
"This show touches on a lot of themes that are relevant right now," Carr says.
"It does so in a really subtle way too. It also profiles a situation that so many young people are finding themselves in these days.
"Being priced out of the property market because of expensive real estate is an issue that's everywhere.
"The idea of the Australian dream and of owning your own home on a quarter acre block is definitely changing.
"There are so many different ways to live now. Deciding where you live and who you live with is a process that's different for everyone. I think the show has tapped into these realities in a really authentic way."
For an actor who has spent the best part of the past 15 years moving and working between Newcastle, Melbourne and Sydney, Carr also believes Five Bedrooms makes a distinctive statement about family.
Wherever it's not possible to live among your immediate relatives, a family might instead become a more fluid concept, shaped by individual circumstances.
"Another idea that this show looks at is that family is not necessarily just about blood," Carr says.
"Family is what you make it. It's that alternative version that an increasing number of people are looking for right now."
In an interesting parallel, Five Bedrooms is a series that also coincides with alternative versions of television itself. The streaming of series three on Paramount Plus will mean that fans of the show can binge as much they like.
"We're consuming TV in such a different way now," Carr says.
"This show has such a strong following and some viewers will probably knock over all the new episodes in the one day."
