Offspring star Asher Keddie joins new Aussie drama

Asher Keddie played neurotic but caring obstetrician Nina Proudman in Offspring. Photo / Supplied

Seven-time Logie-winning actor Asher Keddie is returning to series television in a new collaboration with some of the country’s most celebrated creative talents.

The Offspring star is joining forces with compatriot Bruna Papandrea’s Made Up Stories – the production powerhouse behind the Emmy-nominated The Undoing and Nine Perfect Strangers – for the comedy-drama, Strife.

The Aussie production, to be filmed in Sydney next year and commissioned by the Foxtel Group for streaming service Binge, is inspired by the memoir of MamaMia creator, journalist and internet entrepreneur Mia Freedman.

“I have been waiting for a good three-and-a-half to four years to make a return to series television and this was it, straight away as soon as the brilliant folks at Made Up stories brought it to me,” Keddie said.

The show will be set around a decade ago against the backdrop of new digital media, with Keddie playing Evelyn, the founder of Eve, a fast-growing website aimed at women, while also juggling the demands of parenting, a marriage breakdown and a world where public and private lives become blurred.

Actress Asher Keddie as Nina Proudman in television series Offspring.

“It is the story of a modern, imperfect woman as we follow Eve from the early days as a living room blogger to becoming a woman’s media force that employs almost 100 people, mostly women, and reaches more than 5 million women each month through its website,” Papandrea said.

“It’s a wild ride.”

The production represents something of a homecoming for Keddie, who had her big break on Foxtel’s drama Love My Way nearly 20 years ago, and she said she was attracted to Strife’s authenticity and honesty, thanks to Freedman’s candid stories of her life and career.

“What’s drawn me to it is not being the perfect woman, not being the perfect partner or the perfect parent that we grew up thinking that we needed to be,” Keddie said. “I like this about this show the most, the authenticity of the storytelling and the truth of it, of how we feel and how we roll.”