BEEN watching Irreverent? The Netflix show set in Far North Queensland has certainly been a hit, but you might be surprised to know it actually has its roots in the Portland CBD.

The show’s writer and showrunner (executive producer) is Paddy Macrae, who lived in Portland from the ages of one to seven.

Paddy is one of four children of Alistair Macrae and Claire Boyd-Macrae, with Alistair Macrae the Uniting Church Minister in Portland for six years from 1989 (later becoming President of the Assembly for the church nationally).

Reverend Macrae certainly got involved in the community while he was here, and not just through his pastoral duties – he was a keen sportsman as well and played plenty of football for the Portland reserves.

The family lived in the manse next to the church on Percy St, and it is the comings and goings from that building that inspired young Paddy.

“I kind of grew up living in the manse with all the kind of craziness going on,” he told the Observer.

“Everyone asking for help, getting married or anything else going on.

“As I got older I thought it would make a good story.”

For those who haven’t watched it, Irreverent is best described as Seachange with a twist – it’s about an American with links to criminals (Colin Donnell) on the run after stealing the identity of a US reverend who was headed to Australia for a posting.

The town is called Clump, in Far North Queensland (the show is filmed at Mission Beach).

Clump, as you might expect, has its fair share of characters as well as a curious policewoman (Kylie Bracknell), all getting to grips with the newcomer as he gets to grips with the spiritual life as well as staying out of the hands of the Chicago mafia.

“These days I go between Melbourne, Sydney and Queensland,” Mr Macrae said.

“Queensland’s where we shoot the show but it’s all based on Portland.”

That last part might not be too relevant to Portland, but the rest certainly seems to be.

Mr Macrae has many happy memories of the city, despite his time here being many years ago at a young age – he began his schooling here at All Saints Primary School and is still great mates with school friend John Cooper.

“Portland really gave me a love for the country,” he said.

“All my early memories are things like Bridgewater Beach, Bridgey Lakes and things like that.

“It’s a primary industry town, at that time the smelter was the work.

“It’s a small town where people bond together to help each other and figure things out, and you can swim at a beach or run through a pine forest.

“I used to go down there every summer (after he left) to stay with Lynda and Charlie (Cooper, John’s parents) and we’d go shooting, boating and fishing.

“They’ve been great to me and are great fans of the show.”

As is his mother, a writer herself who can be read in the Age newspaper.

“I think I got my love of stories from Mum and Dad,” Mr Macrae said.

“But certainly my love of writing is from Mum, she’s an incredibly good writer and has been my creative inspiration.

“Mum and Dad both love the show, but they’re probably biased…”

Irreverent is no overnight success story – after leaving Portland for Melbourne and finishing school there, Mr Macrae went on to film school, then overseas working in advertising then came back to do a Master’s degree in screenwriting.

He got to pitch Irreverent in 2010 when he shot a pilot episode at film school.

Having the show picked up eventually by Netflix was “complete insanity”.

“It fell over twice just before we were about to start making it,” Mr Macrae said.

“I got the opportunity to pitch it to an American executive from NBC out from LA.

“He loved it and took it back – we just needed an Australian partner to pick it up.

“All of a sudden we had NBC Peacock (the US network’s streaming service) and Netflix Australia/New Zealand.”

And for those of you – possibly like this writer – who aren’t sure what this Netflix business is, or how it could possibly compare to free-to-air network television, don’t worry.

Another Netflix local production, a remake of Heartbreak High, was the number one rated show in the world on the streaming service – Irreverent has been sitting in that spot for the Australian market.

“Netflix Australia is charged with telling Australian stories ,” Mr Macrae said.

“They picked it up here – it’s a high budget show and in the Australian market we can only afford to a certain level.

“What was so great was we had American money supporting an Australian show.

“We get a really premium level of show with money we wouldn’t get here.

“It’s the best of both worlds.”

With series one underway, Mr Macrae is hopeful of a second series.

“It all depends on how this performs,” he said.

“We’re desperately keen to do another series but if that doesn’t happen we’ve got other projects.”

It’s a small world too – Mr Macrae was surprised to hear that another celebrated screenwriter in Shaun Grant (Penguin Bloom, True History of the Kelly Gang and Snowtown, among others), profiled in the Observer in 2019, spent the early part of his life up the road in Heywood.

“I’ve worked with Shaun before, he did Seven Types of Ambiguity (which screened on the ABC and was produced by Matchbox Pictures, as is Irreverent) with us,” Mr Macrae said.

“He’s a big star, he’s done some big things.”