As co-creator of Bump, as well as one of the stars, Claudia Karvan was involved in the decision for her character Angie’s cancer to return. She just didn’t realise how tough the final season storyline would be for her. As the last scenes were being shot, she couldn’t even get emotional about the show being over.
“I was pretty much a husk by the end,” Claudia, 52, tells TV WEEK via Zoom. “I was pretty depleted.
“There was a lot of emotion, a lot of hugging, lots of presents, flowers and champagne, and yep, it was beautiful. But I did feel a little bit outside of everything because of the storyline.”
As Bump’s fifth and final season begins, Angie and her extended family are visiting the oncologist. Angie is going to need a mastectomy and chemotherapy. Claudia says co-creator Kelsey Munro’s mum was going through chemo at the time.
“Kelsey’s mother had been diagnosed with lymphoma,” she explains, “and I’ve lost quite a few friends to cancer. It is a time to start reflecting on your mortality. As my friend says, the fifties, they’re the sniper years.”
But the season also has plenty of less heavy moments. There’s a romance blooming between Shauna and Marcus, which Claudia and the team wrote after seeing Steph Tisdell and Paralympic gold medallist Dylan Alcott acting opposite each other last season.
“We had to have this love affair,” Claudia says.
There’s also the brief appearance of Nicole da Silva as the ex-partner of Ryan Johnson’s character Tim, which Claudia says was done “partially” for Doctor Doctor fans, who loved Ryan and Nicole as a couple.
As well, there’s a scene in the final episode taken from Claudia’s own life.
“When I’m having a really flat day or I’m feeling a bit dusty, I get in my car and I go to one of those drive-through car washes and I just sit in my car,” Claudia explains. “I pitched that and that’s in there.”
This season is the first that Nathalie Morris, who plays Angie’s daughter Oly, has co-written an episode.
“To empower Nat in that way is probably one of the proudest things that happened on series five for us, internally,” Claudia says.
“I love and adore Nat and she will be my TV daughter for life.”
Claudia, who has a daughter, Audrey, 23, and son, Albee, 18, with ex-partner Jeremy Sparks, says the young Bump cast are “so much more professional and responsible” than she was at their age.
“None of them ever came to work with a hangover, let’s just say that!” she laughs.
In 2025, Claudia is going to be seen on TV in Great Australian Road Trips, with her Bump co-star Steph, and Who Do You Think You Are?. She also has two new series that she’s hoping to get off the ground.
Having gone from child star to popular actress in The Secret Life Of Us to successful producer, Claudia is “extremely” happy with where she’s at in her life.
“Trying not to be smug,” she laughs. “Trying not to be too, you know, ‘the cat who’s got the cream’. Just, life’s so good.”
Bump S1-5 is available December 26 on Stan
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