Outrageous Fortune (TV show)

Outrageous Fortune
The Season 6 title card
Genre	Comedy-drama Crime drama Family drama
Created by	James Griffin Rachel Lang
Developed by	South Pacific Pictures
Starring	Robyn Malcolm Antony Starr Siobhan Marshall Antonia Prebble Frank Whitten Kirk Torrance Grant Bowler
Opening theme	Gutter Black, Hello Sailor
Country of origin	New Zealand
No. of seasons	6
No. of episodes	107 (including 2-hour movie) (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	James Griffin Rachel Lang Simon Bennett
Running time	42 mins. (approx)
Release
Original network	TV3
Picture format	576i (SDTV), 720p (HDTV)
Audio format	Stereo
Original release	12 July 2005 – 9 November 2010
Chronology
Related shows	Westside
External links
Website

Outrageous Fortune is a New Zealand family comedy crime drama television series, which ran from 12 July 2005 to 9 November 2010 on TV3. The series followed the lives of the career criminal West family after the matriarch, Cheryl (Robyn Malcolm), decided the family should go straight and abide by the law. The show was created by James Griffin and Rachel Lang and produced by South Pacific Pictures.

Like the show itself, episodes took their names from Shakespeare quotations. The show concluded after 6 seasons and 107 episodes making it the longest running drama series made in New Zealand. The primary cast for the show's run consisted of Robyn Malcolm, Antony Starr, Siobhan Marshall, Antonia Prebble, Frank Whitten and Kirk Torrance; Grant Bowler appeared in a sporadic role throughout the show's first five seasons.

The show premiered on 12 July 2005 and was welcomed by high acclaim. It won many of the major categories in the New Zealand television awards for its first 4 years, with Malcolm's performance warmly recognised by most New Zealand reviewers. Following the show's success, both the United States and the United Kingdom adapted Outrageous Fortune into their own respective series, neither of which were renewed after their debut seasons.

In 2014, TV3 announced a six-part prequel miniseries entitled Westside that chronicles the lives of Ted and Rita West in 1970's Auckland.

The series followed the lives of the West family, headed by Cheryl (Robyn Malcolm) and Wolf West (Grant Bowler) in their working class West Auckland home. The family relied on crime for an income, with Cheryl working at a stolen goods shop. When Wolf is incarcerated, Cheryl informs her family, Van (Antony Starr), Jethro (Antony Starr), Pascalle (Siobhan Marshall), Loretta (Antonia Prebble) and Ted (Frank Whitten) that they will obey the law and play it straight. Show creator Rachel Lang described the series as an "upside down morality tale and a family story about a woman who tries to make her family go straight."