Jared Richards
August 27, 2026 — 12:05pm
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Dalliance ★★★★
Dalliance’s title is a slight misdirect for this warm, funny and understated miniseries from father-and-son duo John and Dan Edwards (Bump; The F-Ward).
Focusing on a messy, loveable group of 60-something friends in Sydney and featuring some of Australia’s finest actors (including Hugo Weaving, Heather Mitchell, David Wenham and Georgie Parker), it’s not really about an affair or tryst.
Georgie Parker as Rose, Hugo Weaving as Billy, and Heather Mitchell as Dani in Dalliance.
Instead, consider Dalliance as a spiritual sequel to Edwards snr’s beloved shows The Secret Life of Us and Love My Way. It’s an enrapturing ensemble drama about friends growing apart and together, filled with small, distinctly Australian moments (bonding over Aldi wine; selling off Zampatti dresses to make ends meet; a wild arvo at the Clovelly bowlo) that ground the show’s heightened events.
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Propinquity would be a much more accurate (and significantly less marketable) name for Dalliance. It’s a word that former restaurateur Dani (Mitchell) and ex globe-trotting cameraman Billy (Weaving) playfully bicker over after they meet by chance on a Sydney ferry, when Billy hides from his washed-up rock star of a brother (Wenham) in the ferry’s kitchen, run by Dani. Meaning nearness of person or place, it’s a type of intimacy that could be kismet – or, if you’re feeling cynical, simply the path of least resistance, a love made by ease and convenience.
Maybe, in Billy and Dani’s case, it’s the former? There’s an undeniable chemistry between the duo, and when Dani suggests to Billy’s wife, Rose (Georgie Parker), that she “rent” Billy as arm-candy to a professional event she’s been dreading, it seems as though Dalliance’s affairs are in order.
Not so, for reasons Paramount+ requested I not spoil, despite occurring early into the pilot. What follows is a far more intriguing story, where the aftershock surfaces long-ignored fault lines and desires within Rose and Billy’s friendship circle.
Kirk Torrance as Rex and Catherine McClements as Sarah in Dalliance.
Wayne Blair (The Sapphires) plays a man walking out on a 34-year marriage that should have ended decades ago, entering an icy-cool dating pool; a free spirit (Catherine McClements; Water Rats) questions whether her nomadic van-life is really what she wants, and Russell Dykstra (Rake) plays a gay man whose significantly younger boyfriend (Ryan Panizza) wants him to grow up. Now in their third acts, they all look back at their relationships, questioning what form of propinquity – fate or resignation – shaped their lives.
What’s most admirable about Dalliance is that not all of its storylines neatly wrap by the end of its six episodes (though it’s hard, for various reasons, to imagine a second season). It would be untruthful if these characters suddenly solved all their issues; thankfully, Dalliance isn’t that naive.
Dalliance is now streaming on Paramount+.
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