Packed to the Rafters

The voice overs may drive you crazy. The soap opera atmosphere may suffocate you. The cutesy vibe may bore you. In the end, you'll watch this with one eye on the TV and the other scanning a newspaper, looking out the window or scanning recipes for that night's dinner.

It's not bad mind you, just a bit precious when it needs to be gritty. Good for young people to learn life lessons, I suppose. This is not brain surgeon stuff. It's often trite in the vein of "800 Words" without the Kiwi vibe and colourful characters (except for a star turn by Hannah Storey as Ruby). A good family diversion but a little bit simple-minded for grown ups.

Some people rate this show poorly but I think it's great. It revolves around a middle age couple who's mature kids all move back home through different circumstances and the relationship between all of them. It is pretty light but when there are so many dark serious shows and movies around it's nice to see a really nice show based on good old family values. The characters are all well played and after telling my girlfriend this looks like a load of rubbish for 2 weeks I watched an episode and am totally hooked. This is in it's second season and I hope it goes for a few more. Can't wait for the 2nd season to come out in NZ.

Packed To The Rafters is a perfect example of Australia's fantastic television industry. The show is not fake, although it is fictional, it deals with characters, relationships and experiences that everyone can relate to.

Packed To The Rafters focuses on the lives of the Rafter family made up of father, Dave (Erik Thomson), mother (Rebecca Gibney), the eldest, Rachel (Jessica Marais), middle child, Ben (Hugh Sheridan) and youngest, Nathan (Angus McLaren). Each episode is narrated by a different family member giving each episode an exciting new take on each characters life. Almost always Packed To The Rafters is full of happiness, joy and laughter. However, darker issues are covered especially when dealing with Rachel and her troubled life and relationships.

Packed To The Rafters is a rare show where the viewer is transported into a different family, which is so like their own, dealing with everyday issues that are exciting and often extremely funny.

The best show on Australian television since the ABC's hit drama, SeaChange.

Heart warming, funny and relatable! The cast and writing is absolutely sensational. Although I've rewatched it multiple times, I still laugh and cry every time. I have a tonne of love and appreciation for this show and the people/actors that gave it life. You must watch it.

Fantastic. I love Aussie shows and I can't wait for Amazon to take us "Back to the Rafters"