Westside (New Zealand TV series)

Westside is a New Zealand comedy drama television series created by Rachel Lang and James Griffin for South Pacific Pictures. It is a prequel to Outrageous Fortune, and chronicles the lives of Ted and Rita West. The show aired from 31 May 2015 to 16 November 2020 on Three, formerly known as TV3.

Series 4 premiered on 9 July 2018. On 21 July 2018 NZ on Air announced funding for a fifth series which will consist of 10 episodes. On 19 July 2019, NZ on Air announced funding for a sixth and final series of Westside.

Plot
The first series is set in the 1970s, it features a Westie couple, and stars Antonia Prebble and David de Lautour as Rita and Ted West. In the first episode, set in 1974, it features John Walker beating Rod Dixon in the 1500 metres at the 1974 Commonwealth Games. Each episode covers one year, from 1974 to 1979, with events like the Muldoon election, dawn raids on overstayers, carless days, and the birth of the punk rock scene in Auckland.

The second series is set in 1981, and follows the Springbok Tour. The series starts with Rita returning home from prison to find the West household in disrepair. Throughout the course of the series Ted's gang plots to steal from the South Africans visiting New Zealand, preventing them from buying land, while Rita plans a job against developer Evan Lace.

The third series is set in 1982 and deals with the fallout from the Evan Lace job and Wolf's first meeting with his future wife, Cheryl.

Cast and characters
This table shows the show's characters and the cast members who have portrayed them.

Note: Only those appearing in more than one episode appear in this list, and only when the actor contributes new material to an episode.

Color key:

{| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 95%;" ! rowspan="2" style="width:5%;"| Character ! colspan="6" style="text-align:center;"| Series ! style="width:5%;"| 1 ! style="width:5%;"| 2 ! style="width:5%;"| 3 ! style="width:5%;"| 4 ! style="width:5%;"| 5 ! style="width:5%;"| 6

! Rita West ! Ted West ! Lefty Munroe ! Ngaire Munroe ! Bilkey van Heeder ! Bert Thompson ! Phineas O'Driscoll ! Carol O'Driscoll ! Wolf West Liam Ferguson ! Cheryl Miller ! colspan="7" style="background:lightblue;"|
 * colspan="6" Antonia Prebble
 * colspan="6" David de Lautour
 * colspan="6" Dan Musgrove
 * colspan="6" Esther Stephens
 * colspan="6" Todd Emerson
 * colspan="6" Pana Hema-Taylor
 * colspan="6" Xavier Horan
 * colspan="6" Sophie Hambleton
 * Reon Bell
 * colspan="5" Reef Ireland
 * colspan="2" N/A
 * colspan="2" Ashleigh Cummings
 * colspan="2" Jessica Grace Smith

Recurring cast
! Mike McCarthy ! Rod Nugent ! Darijo Doslic ! Falani ! Des McEwen ! Barry "Sparky" Gibbs ! Eric Grady ! Evan Lace ! Joanne ! Belinda Lace ! Terry ! Dave ! Riana Adams ! Chelsea Munroe ! Lisa Munroe ! Trish Miller ! Jeanette Miller ! Mandy Miller ! Danny Peters ! Hayden Peters ! Theresa Deering ! Frankie Figgs ! Bianca Figgs ! Krystle Figgs ! Keith ! Van and Jethro West ! Aroha
 * colspan="4" Will Hall
 * colspan="2" N/A
 * colspan="2" Jordan Mauger
 * colspan="4" N/A
 * colspan="4" Glen Levy
 * colspan="2" N/A
 * colspan="6" Patrick Tafa
 * colspan="2" Joel Tobeck
 * colspan="4" N/A
 * colspan="6" Caleb Wells
 * colspan="6" Jordan Mooney
 * N/A
 * colspan="2" Dean O'Gorman
 * colspan="3" N/A
 * N/A
 * Hannah Marshall
 * colspan="4" N/A
 * N/A
 * colspan="2" Laura Hill
 * colspan="3" N/A
 * N/A
 * Tim Carlsen
 * colspan="4" N/A
 * N/A
 * Stelios Yiakmis
 * colspan="4" N/A
 * N/A
 * colspan="4" Kirsten Ibbetson
 * N/A
 * N/A
 * colspan="3" Salomé Grace
 * colspan="2" N/A
 * N/A
 * colspan="3" Ella Shirtcliffe
 * colspan="2" N/A
 * colspan="2" N/A
 * colspan="2" Jodie Dorday
 * colspan="2" N/A
 * colspan="2" N/A
 * colspan="2" Jessie Lawrence
 * colspan="2" N/A
 * colspan="2" N/A
 * colspan="4" Lily Powell
 * colspan="2" N/A
 * colspan="2" Shane Cortese
 * colspan="2" N/A
 * colspan="2" N/A
 * colspan="2" Pierre Beasley
 * colspan="2" N/A
 * colspan="2" N/A
 * colspan="2" Elizabeth Dowden
 * colspan="2" N/A
 * colspan="4" N/A
 * colspan="2" Peter Elliott
 * colspan="4" N/A
 * colspan="2" Michelle Langstone
 * colspan="4" N/A
 * colspan="2" Emily McKenzie
 * colspan="4" N/A
 * colspan="2" Jason Wu
 * colspan="5" N/A
 * colspan="1" Charlie Grey
 * colspan="5" N/A
 * colspan="1" Piimio Mei
 * }

Main cast

 * Antonia Prebble as Rita West, wife of Ted and mother to Wolf. Prebble had previously starred as Rita's granddaughter Loretta West in Outrageous Fortune
 * David de Lautour as Theodore "Ted" West, husband of Rita and father to Wolf
 * Dan Musgrove as Russell "Lefty" Munroe, husband of Ngaire and father to Desiree, Chelsea and Lisa
 * Esther Stephens as Ngaire Munroe, wife of Lefty and mother to Desiree, Chelsea and Lisa
 * Todd Emerson as Bjelke "Bilkey" van Heeder
 * Pana Hema-Taylor as Bert Thompson
 * Xavier Horan as Phineas O'Driscoll, husband of Carol
 * Sophie Hambleton as Carol O'Driscoll, wife of Phineas
 * Reef Ireland as Wolfgang "Wolf" West (series 2–6), Ted and Rita West's son
 * Ashleigh Cummings as Cheryl Miller (series 3–4), Wolf's girlfriend/wife
 * Jessica Grace Smith as Cheryl West (series 5–6), Wolf's wife

Recurring cast

 * Will Hall as Mike McArthy; police detective
 * Jordan Mauger as Rod Nugent; shady pawn shop owner, Rita blackmails him into signing the Galleria over to her
 * Glen Levy as Darijo Doslic; neighbour/associate of the Wests
 * Patrick Tafa as Falani; friend of Wolf
 * Joel Tobeck as Des McEwen; shady lawyer
 * Caleb Wells as Barry "Sparky" Gibbs; friend of Wolf, brother to Annemarie, son of Dougal
 * Jordan Mooney as Eric Grady; friend of Wolf
 * Dean O'Gorman as Evan Lace; local businessman
 * Hannah Marshall as Joanne; Evan's girlfriend
 * Laura Hill as Belinda Lace; Evan's wife, was in prison with Rita
 * Tim Carlsen as Terry; local constable
 * Stelios Yiakmis as Dave; protest group leader
 * Kirsten Ibbetson as Riana Adams; student, later cop, dated Bert
 * Salomé Grace as Chelsea Munroe; Ngaire & Lefty's middle daughter
 * Ella Shirtcliffe as Lisa Munroe; Ngaire & Lefty's youngest daughter
 * Jodie Dorday as Trish Miller; Cheryl's mother
 * Jessie Lawrence as Jeanette Miller; Cheryl's older sister
 * Lily Powell as Mandy Miller; Cheryl's younger sister
 * Shane Cortese as Danny Peters; local brothel owner/pimp
 * Pierre Beasley as Hayden Peters; Danny's son
 * Elizabeth Dowden as Theresa Deering; one of Danny's workers; has a relationship with Lefty

Guest cast

 * Matthew Arbuckle as Shane, local constable, has a crush on Cheryl
 * Jarred Blakiston as Vern Gardiner, neighbour of the Wests at their old house, has an affair with Rita, while Ted is in prison
 * Ross Brannigan as Father Murphy, Phineas' parish priest
 * Alistair Browning as Dieter Szabo, Rita's Nazi father
 * Rachale Davies as Jackie, Cheryl's maternal aunt, Trish's sister
 * Geoffrey Dolan as Neville, a country farmer, on who Lefty sets up a burglary
 * Wesley Dowdell as Dick Spiller, father to Aaron (played Aaron in Outrageous Fortune)
 * Peter Elliott as Frankie Figgs, shady businessman and nemesis of the Wests
 * David Fane as Ofisa Falani (Senior)
 * Eve Gordon as Pat, an old friend of Rita's
 * Andrew Grainger as Declan Corke, likely grandfather to Franklin (Outrageous Fortune)
 * Taylor Hall as Allen Markham, car dealer
 * Jason Hodzelmans as Brian, neighbour of the Wests, Wendy's husband
 * Jamie Irvine as Marty Johnstone
 * Michelle Langstone as Bianca, daughter of Frankie Figgs and older sister of Krystle
 * John Leigh as Dougal Gibbs, an associate of Ted, father to Sparky and Annemarie
 * Gabriel McArtney as Captain Hook (Dave McArtney), vocalist/guitarist of Hello Sailor
 * Jaime McDermott as Annemarie Gibbs, Sparky's sister and daughter to Dougal
 * Laura McGoldrick as Wendy, neighbour of the Wests
 * Dra McKay as Elsa Szabo, Rita's mother (Season 4–6)
 * Toni Potter as Mary Peters, wife to Danny, mother to Hayden (Season 4)
 * Alison Quigan as Old Lady
 * John Rawls as Gang Leader, of "The Horsemen" gang Wolf is coerced into joining (Season 2)
 * Ilona Rodgers as Grandma Miller, Cheryl's paternal grandmother (Season 4)
 * Renee Sheridan as Maureen, Cheryl's maternal aunt, Trish's sister (Season 4)
 * Rima Te Wiata as Iris, Ted's bookie (Season 4–6)
 * Roz Turnbull as Sonia Stephens, Rochelle's mum (played Rochelle Stephens in Outrageous Fortune) (Season 5)
 * Nicole Whippy as Kasey's mum (played Kasey in Outrageous Fortune) (Season 4)
 * Scott Wills as Buck, gang member of "The Horsemen" (Season 2)

Production
In July 2014, NZ On Air approved funding of NZ$4.8 million for the miniseries. On 28 July 2015, NZ On Air approved funding of $7.6 million for a second series, on 2 August 2016 $6.6 million was approved for a third series and on 24 July 2017 $6.5 million was approved for a fourth series. In September an additional $1.2 million was approved for series four.

Filming
Filming for series one commenced on 12 October and concluded on 17 December 2014. Filming for series two commenced on 27 September 2015 and concluded on 19 January 2016. Filming for series three commenced on 30 October 2016 and concluded on 3 February 2017. Filming for series four commenced on 19 November 2017 and concluded on 18 March 2018.

Music
Westside: The Original Soundtrack was released for digital download on 8 July 2015 and CD on 10 July 2015. It peaked at number nineteen in New Zealand. Music from Westside Series Two was released for digital download on 1 July 2016

Charts

 * Series 1

Broadcast
Series 2 premiered in New Zealand on 12 June 2016 and series 3 premiered on 10 July 2017.

Series 1 premiered in Australia on 9Gem on 2 December 2015, and series 2 premiered on 8 August 2016.

Home media
Series 1 is available on the iTunes Store in Australia.