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ScreenTalk: The Almighty Johnsons

The Almighty Johnsons is a fantasy/comedy series that screened on New Zealand television over three series from 2011 to 2013. The show is about a family of brothers who are descended from Norse gods, desperately trying to restore their powers. While not a huge ratings success in New Zealand, the series has won a cult following in a number of countries.

In this special edition of ScreenTalk, some of the key cast and crew talk about the memorable time they had in creating The Almighty Johnsons... 

  • Actor/writer Tim Balme on the basic storyline, and how the show is 'essentially a battle of the sexes story'
  • Producer Simon Bennett on the creative challenges of dealing with characters who are descended from Norse gods
  • Ben Barrington on how the special abilities of the Johnson brothers are 'just very male qualities with the knobs turned up'
  • Actors Dean O'Gorman, Jared Turner and Michelle Langstone on the writing of co-creator James Griffin
  • Alison Bruce on the show's edgyness
  • Dean O'Gorman on how the actors were perfectly cast for each of their roles
  • Ben Barrington on trying to stay in character, while other cast members act like idiots 
  • Dean O'Gorman and Alison Bruce on their very different roles
  • Director Mark Beesley on loving how a commercial show was built on such a 'bold quirky idea'
  • Simon Bennett on how badly The Almighty Johnsons rated against The Big Bang Theory
  • Michelle Langstone on how special the show is for her 
  • Jared Turner on how people continue to 'love the shit out of' the programme 

This video is available on YouTube to embed and distribute via this Creative Commons licence.

NZ On Screen: Camera – Andrew Whiteside & James Coleman. Editing – Andrew Whiteside