australian television information archive

Have fun: Newton's new law

MATTHEW Newton and his famous family have been the subject of plenty of magazine articles.

Now, the 29-year-old is turning the tables on the publishing game, starring in a new series as a magazine writer.

The son of television legend Bert Newton, he has slowly been building a strong television resume that seems to be heading strongly in the direction of comedy.

His appearances on Ten's Thank God You're Here reveal he has inherited his father's quick wit.

Now comes TV1's new comedy series Stupid, Stupid Man, in which he plays Nick, a feature writer on a men's magazine which degrades and humiliates women.

"I saw the script and I liked my character so I went ahead with it," Newton says.

"They were some of the funniest scripts I'd seen and I was able to work with some funny guys, like Wayne (Hope) and Bob (Franklin)."

The show looks at the lives of four blokes on the magazine's editorial team, who constantly get themselves into tricky situations.

A small cast of six characters tell the story of the madness that goes on among the employees at the magazine Coq ­ it's French for rooster.

The show was filmed in an office in Sydney's CBD and Newton says working on the comedy series was very much like having a proper office job. "I caught a cab to the office every morning and caught the lift up to the fourth floor. It was really like working a real office job," he says.

"It was so much fun, I loved going to work every day."

His character is a smart but useless feature writer who gets by with doing as little work as possible.

And he's involved in a few raunchy scenes, but he can't say too much. "There's some sexual tensions on the show, but I'm not going to give much away," he laughs.

"I catch up with an old friend at a school reunion and things don't quite turn out the way they were meant to."

And Newton says it was "fantastic" working alongside the comical talents of Hope and Franklin, who both star in the new comedy film, Boytown.

"They're absolutely fantastic, especially Bob," he says.

"He is wild and manic and he's a terrific actor, he had me in fits of laughter."

Some of the scenes are hilarious, especially with some top performances by copy boy Ross, played by Chris Leaney.

The whole cast puts in impressive performances and Leaney shines in his first acting role.

"Chris is a little shit, he's an annoying little shit, he giggles at anything," Newton says.

"In one scene where we're in the toilets it was a real struggle to do the scene because he was just so funny.

"He's fabulous and he has a unique style."

Some of the scenes are just brilliant, including Ross's purchase of a replica AK-47 gun used in the movie Black Hawk Down.

Things turn ugly when Ross pulls the gun out in the office.

The series includes some guest performances by actor Georgie Parker, golfer Greg Norman and singer Leo Sayer.

Stupid, Stupid Man premieres on Tuesday and consists of eight 30-minute episodes.

Stupid, Stupid Man, TV1, Foxtel/Optus/Austar, Tuesday 9pm

By Sophie Elsworth
November 14, 2006
The Courier-Mail