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Utopia’s series 2 opener is a surprising, bold, strikingly handsome hour of television. Here’s Louisa’s review…

Review

This review contains spoilers. Our spoiler-free review is here.

“We’ve got a very odd first episode,” Utopia creator Dennis Kelly said last year about series two, “people are either going to really like it or really say ‘what the fuck did you do that for?’”.

You won’t hear that last question from us, not only because there’s a rude word in it, but also because the opening episode is superb and Kelly’s reasons for going back in time couldn’t be clearer. Documenting the beginnings of Janus, establishing the brutal scope of The Network’s power, and fattening up the emotional lives of Jessica, Arby and Milner gives Utopia series two an unshakeable foundation. Kelly’s “very odd first episode”, it turns out, is nothing short of a masterstroke.

Last year, production designer Melinda Doring won the If Award for Best Production Design for Australian-uk drama Oranges and Sunshine as well as an Aacta award for for her work on The Eye of the Storm. She tells fellow production designer John Rohde how she created the production design for Oranges and Sunshine while working on a tight budget.

John Rohde: How did you get involved with the film?

Melinda Doring: Oranges and Sunshine producer Emile Sherman (See Saw Films) suggested me to his UK co-producer Camilla Bray (Sixteen Films). I happened to be in the UK in the beginning of 2009 having just finished another UK -Australian co-production, The Boys Are Back, so I had the opportunity to meet with the director Jim Loach in London.

I loved Rona Munro.s script . it is based on the extraordinary autobiography Empty Cradles by Margaret Humphreys . so I found it easy...