Outrageous Fortune – Nostalgia Central

2 0 0 5 – 2 0 1 0 (New Zealand)
107 x 45 minute episodes

One of the most successful and longest-running series in New Zealand television history, Outrageous Fortune followed the West family – a tight-knit, proud clan of career criminals living in the working-class suburbs of West Auckland.

The family’s criminal ecosystem was thrown into complete chaos when the patriarch, Wolfgang “Wolf” West (Grant Bowler), was sentenced to four years in prison.

Fed up with spending her life waiting at prison gates, the family’s fierce matriarch, Cheryl West (Robyn Malcolm), made a monumental decision. Gathering her children, she declared that the family would give up crime and live entirely honest, law-abiding lives.

Meanwhile, the unrepentant Wolf – an old-school career safe-cracker – actively sabotaged his family’s attempts to reform.

The central, comedic, and dramatic engine of the show was the family’s immense, painful struggle to stay on the straight and narrow when the temptation of “easy money” and their own criminal instincts constantly pulled them backwards.

Antony Starr played a dual role as the yin-and-yang twin brothers Jethro and Van West. Jethro was a slick, scheming, cold-hearted lawyer who used the legal system for shady gains, while Van was a dim-witted, fiercely loyal, and lovable stoner who constantly stumbled into trouble.

Pascalle West (Siobhan Marshall) was the glamorous, ditzy, fashion-obsessed daughter who dreamed of becoming a high-flying model or celebrity.

The youngest daughter, Loretta (Antonia Prebble), was a terrifyingly brilliant, cynical, manipulative teenage criminal mastermind who served as the family’s brains.

Ted West (Frank Whitten) was Wolf’s elderly father, a legendary retired safe-cracker who provided old-school criminal wisdom from his backyard sleep-out.

Outrageous Fortune dominated the New Zealand Screen Awards throughout its five-year run, winning dozens of trophies including Best Drama, Best Editing, and multiple Best Actor/Actress wins for Antony Starr and Robyn Malcolm.

The series was remade in the UK as Honest (2008) starring Amanda Redman, and in the US as Scoundrels (2010) starring Virginia Madsen.

The prequel series Westside debuted in May 2015. Set in the 1970s, it followed young Ted West and his wife Rita. The series ran for five years.

Cheryl West
Robyn Malcolm
Van West/Jethro West
Antony Starr
Pascalle West
Siobhan Marshall
Loretta West
Antonia Prebble
“Grandpa” Ted West
Frank Whitten
Wolfgang “Wolf” West
Grant Bowler
Wayne Judd
Kirk Torrance
Munter
Tammy Davis
Kasey Mason
Nicole Whippy
Falani
David Fane
Hayden Peters
Shane Cortese