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Packed to the Rafters
2008–present opening title
Format	Comedy-drama
Created by	Bevan Lee
Starring	Rebecca Gibney Erik Thomson Jessica Marais Hugh Sheridan Angus McLaren Jessica McNamee Michael Caton Zoe Ventoura George Houvardas
Country of origin	Australia
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	44 (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	John Holmes
Producer(s)	Jo Porter
Running time	60 Minutes (including commercials)
Broadcast
Original channel	Seven Network
Original run	26 August 2008 – present
External links
Official website

Packed to the Rafters is an Australian family-oriented comedy-drama television series which premiered on the Seven Network on Tuesday 26 August 2008 at 8:30 pm. The drama series features a mix of lighthearted comedy woven through the plot. It revolves around the Rafter family facing work pressures and life issues, whilst also tackling serious social issues. The Logie award winning series was the highest rating to screen on the Seven Network in 2008 with an average audience of 1,939,000 viewers tuning into each episode.^[1] Series 3 of the award-winning drama series is set to premiere around mid-2010 with 22 new episodes.

Premise

The series centres around the characters Dave and Julie Rafter and their three children Rachel, Ben and Nathan. On the eve of their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary the couple thinks that they are finally about to have the house to themselves. But home is a very welcome refuge for their children and when unforeseen problems loom, they return like a boomerang. After Dave faces unemployment, Julie's father suffers a panic attack, son Nathan and daughter-in-law Sammy need a place to stay, daughter Rachel leaves her abusive boyfriend Daniel, and son Ben moves next door but continues to drop in, the household is 'packed to the rafters'.^[2]

Cast

Main

Current recurring and guest cast

Former recurring and guest cast

Production

The producer is Jo Porter, who alongside series creator Bevan Lee and writer Antony Ellis are part of the same team responsible for the critically acclaimed series Always Greener, which also set ratings records.

The exterior shots of the Rafter house are filmed on location in Riverview Street Concord.^[3] Most of the other exterior shots are filmed at locations in Southern Sydney including establishing shots at Oatley shopping centre and the Captain Cook Bridge. The dinner venue in episode 1 was filmed at the St George Motor Boat Club at Sans Souci but the indoor scenes in the Chinese Restaurant were a set.^[4][5] The cricket match in episode 2 was filmed at Carss Park, as were the shopping centre, beach and park scenes in episode 5.

DVD releases

Soundtrack

Packed to the Rafters: The Soundtrack
Soundtrack by Various Artists
Released	AUS: 29 November 2008
Length	55:44
Language	English
Label	Warner Music

Packed to the Rafters: The Soundtrack^[6] was released on 29 November 2008. It has peaked at #7 on the Australian ARIA Albums Chart. It has since gone Platinum, selling in excess of 70,000 copies. The songs "I'm Yours" and "Rock & Roll" have been heavily used in promotional advertising for the series.

Track listing

1. Jason Mraz – "I'm Yours"
2. Gabriella Cilmi – "Sweet About Me"
3. Josh Pyke – "Memories and Dust"
4. Ben Lee – "Love Me Like the World Is Ending"
5. Kahn Brothers – "Stronger Together"
6. Lisa Mitchell – "Neopolitan Dreams"
7. The Cat Empire – "Fishies"
8. Old Man River – "La"
9. José González – "Down the Line"
10. James Reyne – "Reckless"
11. Alex Lloyd – "Same Day"
12. Lior – "Burst Your Bubble"
13. Jenny Morris – "Street of Love"
14. Mark Sholtez – "Love Me for the Cool"
15. Abby Dobson – "It's Only Love"
16. Eric Hutchinson – "Rock & Roll"

Packed to the Rafters: The Soundtrack Vol. 2 was released on 18 September 2009. It has peaked at #30 on the Australian ARIA Albums Chart.

Track listing

1. Latch Key Kid – "Good Times"
2. Lisa Mitchell – "Coin Laundry"
3. Empire of the Sun – "We Are the People"
4. Ben Lee – "Birds And Bees"
5. Eric Hutchinson – "You Don't Have To Believe Me"
6. Bob Evans – "Don't You Think It's Time?"
7. Kylie Auldist – "Just Say"
8. James Grehan – "Hold On"
9. Matt Costa – "Miss Magnolia"
10. Mark Sholtez – "Too Late For Heroes"
11. Lior – "This Old Love"
12. Whitley – "Lost In Time"
13. King Curly – "Little Arrows"
14. Sarah Blasko – "Perfect Now"
15. Abby Dobson – "Horses"
16. Rick Price – "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas"

Reception

Critical response

Packed to the Rafters has received generally positive critical response from reviewers. In reviewing the pilot, David Knox of TV Tonight underlined that whilst the series' tone was "predominantly light", 'Rafters' "also features some darker, more successful moments".^[7] The Age's Jim Schembri called Rafters a "superbly sculpted series about suburban class warfare", noting that in his opinion, the series was "one of the most enjoyable, finely honed locally produced TV dramas we've seen in ages", applauding the dialogue that "crackles with wit and energy".^[8] Season 2 received an equal amount of outflowing positivity, with Michael Lallo discovering that Rafters " "lighthearted tone acts as a cloak, allowing it to address controversial topics without making viewers feel they're being lectured. The result is a feel-good series that's meaty and satisfying".^[9] One of the few negative reviews for Rafters came from Change The Channel who derided the series for being "stupid" and "predictable".^[10]

Of the series' characters, Michael Idato of SMH found an "elegance to the performances", going on to further applaud the "gentle, engaging, emotional dynamics" of the characters interactions with each other that also managed to both "enhance its charm and believability at the same time".^[11]

Awards

The show has been nominated for eleven Logie awards and won six;

Packed to the Rafters were nominated for 2 AFI awards in 2009.

Episodes and ratings

The average ratings for Season 1 in 2008 were 1,939,000 making it the #1 show of 2008 on Australian television. The second season of Packed to the Rafters is currently screening.^[12] The program has also been picked up by Irish broadcaster RTE^[13] and New Zealand's TV1 which will air the first season of Packed to the Rafters in early 2009^[14]. The series has also been sold to networks in South Africa, Belgium, The Netherlands, several Scandinavian countries^[15], and Italy.

Series Ratings

The following table's ratings and rankings are subject to change as more episodes are broadcast.

Weekly ratings

Packed to the Rafters has been a solid performer in the ratings since its premiere. Most episodes have been the number one program during prime time for the night since the series premiere and the show has remained in the top ten programs of the week. In 2008, the series was the highest rating regularly broadcast show with an average of 1,939,143 viewers per episode for the first fourteen episodes of season one which screened in 2008.

Season 1: 2008–2009

¹ Viewer numbers are based on preliminary OzTAM data for Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth combined.

Season 2: 2009

Season 3: 2010

¹ Viewer numbers are based on preliminary OzTAM data for Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth combined.

² Episode 1 of season 2 was aired in Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth on the 30 June to an audience of 1,520,000. Episode 1 was shown to Melbourne a week later to an audience of 665,000 taking the total viewers for episode 1 to 2,185,000

³ Episode 2 was played at 9:30 in Melbourne as part 2 of a 2 hour season premiere.

International distribution

Country	Channel	Year	Notes
Belgium (Flanders)	vtm	2008 –	Subtitled in Dutch
Netherlands	NET 5	2009 –	Subtitled in Dutch
Ireland	RTÉ One	2009 –	Mondays 2:30am.
New Zealand	TV ONE	2009 –	Wednesdays 8:30pm
South Africa	SET	2009 –
Falkland Islands	Falkland Islands Television Service	2012–
Italy	Joi	17 January 2010 –	Sundays 9pm

References

External links

• Packed to the Rafters – Official Seven Network website
• Packed to the Rafters at TV.com
• Australian Television: Packed to the Rafters
• Packed to the Rafters at the Internet Movie Database