It’s fitting that it took an act of God to get Rebecca Gibney and Richard Roxburgh back on screen together.
The last time they played opposite each other was 1995, in the crime drama Halifax FP, where Rebecca starred as forensic psychiatrist Dr. Jane Halifax and Richard played Sergeant Paul Santos, a detective investigating a murder she had been called in to help with.
It was a complicated relationship that worked thanks to an obvious on-screen chemistry and their performances earned both of them TV WEEK Logie Award nominations as Best Actor and Actress In A Leading Role In A Television Drama.
It also was the beginning of a long-term friendship, which continued through the decades without ever matching the two on screen again – until now in the new Stan drama series Prosper, which follows a family at the centre of a mega-church.
“As soon as I heard Richard was cast, I was chomping at the bit to be able to do it,” Rebecca, 59, tells TV WEEK. “We’ve known each other a long time and we have a great friendship… but this is the first time we’ve worked together since the 1990s and it’s a joy.
“It’s like a masterclass working with him, he is one of Australia’s finest actors but also one of the best humans!”
Once again, their on-screen relationship is complicated. The duo play married couple Cal and Abi Quinn, the incredibly wealthy heads of a world-spanning organisation. While Cal reaps the success as head of the evangelical church, Abi wonders if the pair have strayed from the spiritual path they once believed in.
“Cal is a terrific character, I mean really interesting,” Richard, 61, says of the role
“(He shows) the difficulty the modern Evangelical or Pentecostal church find themselves in… the church will always say we need the money so the word of God can be spread, we need the money to build our interface with God so people will have a place to go to, or we need that jet to get there fast by the most direct way so we can continue to spread the word of God. But in the end, people are going to see these leaders flying around in private planes and wearing beautiful tailored suits.”
Richard and Rebecca play Cal and Abi in Prosper.
(Stan)“The question is: How do you marry the life you are currently leading with those beliefs? That’s what this series is about really.”
And also, Rebecca adds, it’s about how power corrupts.
“It would be so easy to put a megachurch up there and then put two evil people running it for their own means or to make money but it’s not that at all,” she says of the show. “We are not showing these people as being evil we’re just showing that they are corruptible… but everyone is tempted.”
Prosper also shows the jostling for power behind the scenes of what appears to be a united family, and the manipulation of wealth, which is where temptation is rife.
For the former Gold Logie winner, it’s those conflicts and the decisions Abi will make that make her so interesting to play.
“Abi is a master manipulator,” Rebecca laughs, “but does she believe she is doing it for the right reasons? Absolutely!”
Richard agrees, while happily pointing out that organized religion has never been a part of his life, is never likely to be and that while Cal is a great role: “He is the polar opposite of me!” he laughs.
“We’re not showing the couple as evil – just corruptible.”
(Stan)Happily married to actor and presenter Silvia Colloca and a far more present father to his three children than Cal is to his (“I like to think that I have a very different parenting style,” he laughs), Richard enjoys the conflicts Cal’s life has, but is happy he doesn’t share them.
But for both actors, the chance to bring such complex characters to life and work together again was a rich temptation neither could pass up.
“I love this show and I think it’s got the potential to go on and on and on,” Rebecca says.
That certainly fits in with Rebecca’s plan to continue working as long as interesting roles come along.
New Zealand-born but living in Australia from the early 1980s, the actress recently returned home after filming the drama series Wanted in 2017. She decided to stay, and is now living in Dunedin with husband Richard Bell and their son. But as she approached the milestone age of 50 in 2024, Rebecca isn’t sweating the small stuff. She’s hoping to follow renowned actors such as Dame Judy Dench, Maggie Smith and Betty White, who never let age stop them performing.
When an Australian/New Zealand version of The Golden Girls is suggested, it’s a line that gets a laugh… and starts her thinking.
“As long as I could do Betty White’s character, absolutely!” she says, before adding some notable names to the list. “We could get Kerry Armstrong, Deborah Lee Furness, Sigrid Thornton… maybe we’ve got an idea happening here!”
