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;"|

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

Main cast

Recurring cast

Guest cast

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

Release

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.

Series overview

Episodes

Series 1 (2015)

Series 2 (2016)

Series 3 (2017)

Series 4 (2018)

Series 5 (2019)

Series 6 (2020)

Awards and nominations

C21's International Drama Awards

New York Festivals International Film & TV Awards

New Zealand Television Awards

New Zealand Television Craft Awards