australian television information archive

The Slap brings viewers running to ABC

"He saw his cousin's raised arm, it spliced the air and then he saw the open palm descend and strike the boy. The slap seemed to echo. It cracked the twilight. The little boy looked up at the man in shock."

This is how the middle-aged Greek-Australian Hector, one of the eight narrators in Christos Tsiolkas' acclaimed 2008 novel The Slap, describes his cousin Harry's singular act of violence against a friend's unruly three-year-old son at a suburban barbecue in Melbourne.

Things quickly go from bad to worse as little Hugo's free-range parents Rosie and Gary insist on pressing charges against Harry and friends and family are forced to take sides.

The slap echoes through the lives of all those present that day, turning wife against husband and friend against friend.

New cracks are opened up in relationships while old ones turn into chasms.

Forty-something scriptwriter Anouk has fallen pregnant to a lover 20 years her junior but is considering an abortion.

The Greek-Australian Harry is fiercely committed to family values yet is having an adulterous affair with his drug supplier.

Schoolgirl Connie is obsessed with Hector, as is her gay friend, Richie. Rosie, who dotes on Hugo, can't see anything wrong with continuing to breast-feed him as he turns four and refuses to reign in his increasingly outrageous behaviour.

Hector's father Manolis is a firm believer in old-school discipline, while Hector's wife Aisha is a successful career woman and mother who has secret desires of her own.

The TV adaptation of the novel has been a ratings success for the ABC.

The first episode of the eight-part mini-series, which premiered on Thursday, won its timeslot in all metropolitan cities, with the exception of Brisbane, and was the ABC's top show of the night and most successful series on Thursday nights this year.

It was the fifth most watched show of the night nationally with 946,000 viewers and in Perth, with 106,000 people tuning in.

Controller of ABC1, Brendan Dahill, described The Slap as a "significant piece of television" and, coupled with Crownies "stamped Thursday night as ABC1's Australian drama night".

By William Yeoman
The West Australian
October 09, 2011